Renovation of disputed school will go on

Renovation of disputed school will go on

JAKARTA (JP): The City Administration will demolish a fence built around state junior high school SMP 43 on Jl. Piere Tendean, South Jakarta, to help speed up its renovation project, an official said yesterday.

H. Prawoto S. Danoemihardjo, assistant for the development administration, said that an order for the demolition could be issued by the City Administration some time this month.

The City Administration's decision to issue the order was made following a dispute with M. Matun, former head of the Mampang Prapatan subdistrict where the school is located.

The administration carried on with its plans to renovate the school and relocated its students to a number of other schools. After demolishing the old school building last year, however, Matun immediately claimed that the land of the school belonged to him.

He later built a fence on the land, delaying the renovation the Rp 800 million (US$262,636) project.

"H. Matun cannot just claim that the school land is his and build a fence around it," Prawoto said. The property belongs to Mampang Prapatan subdistrict as stated in Land Document No. 1 of the subdistrict office.

Out of 37 teachers, 34 have already been transferred to such state elementary schools as SDN 07, 08, 09, and 10 in Pancoran subdistrict.

The delay in the renovation project has burdened both the students and teachers. Because they are now situated in a number of schools located far apart, the teachers are forced to spend more time traveling from one school to the next just to teach one class. (31)