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)