Resident questioned over destruction
JAKARTA (JP): A resident of Koja Utara, North Jakarta, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly destroying fences belonging to PT Humpuss, a company which is constructing a cargo terminal in the area together with state-owned port company PT Pelindo II.
Welly Yakob, a resident of the district, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the suspect, Martin Mohamad, had been kept in police custody overnight.
City police spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Permantoro confirmed yesterday that Martin was questioned by the police in relation to destruction of the company's property.
"He has been released today," Bambang said.
In July, Koja Utara residents were accused of vandalizing various properties belonging to the company. The accusations were made by PT Pelindo II and the North Jakarta mayoralty, both of which are involved in a dispute over land compensation with residents of the district. The damaged property in question included a 50-meter-long fence in Jl. Gang 64, which had collapsed.
Speaking to local military District Commander Capt. Mohamad Nuh, the residents at that time denied the charges of destruction, showing the commander that the collapse had been caused by a construction fault rather through willful destruction on the part of residents.
Meanwhile, North Jakarta Mayor Suprawito, accompanied by other local leaders, including local military Area Commander Lt. Col. Bahir Alamsyah, North Jakarta District Police Chief Lt. Col. Abubakar Nataprawira and representatives of PT Pelindo II, met with Koja Utara residents on Tuesday, calling on them to accept the compensation offered by the local government for the loss of their homes to the project.
"The cargo terminal project will continue and there is no reason to suspend it," Suprawito said.
The residents, however, promptly objected to the mayor's statement.
"There will be no construction until the problem of compensation has been settled," the residents shouted as they dispersed.
Suprawito told reporters later that there would be no change to the rate of compensation offered.
"If we meet their demands it will affect other residents whose compensation has already been paid," Suprawito said, adding that he was prepared to talk with the residents, except regarding their demand for a higher level of compensation.
According to Suprawito, the compensation rate set by his decree was based on rate paid to residents displaced by the Cilincing-Pluit flyover and the Sunter III dam.
The land compensation dispute arose after PT Pelindo II and PT Humpuss announced last year that they would appropriate some 90 hectares of land for the construction of a new cargo terminal.
The company set the compensation rate at between Rp 100,000 (US$44) and Rp 150,000 per square meter, while the residents asked for Rp 2,275 million per sq m, but said the figure was negotiable.
After a number of negotiating sessions ended in a deadlock, the mayor of North Jakarta decreed that the rate would be between Rp 100,000 to Rp 165,000 per sq m.
The new terminal, which is being built at a cost of $498 million, is scheduled to commence operations in October 1998. (01)