Residents cultivate empty land illegally

JAKARTA (JP): About 100 city residents flocked to an empty plot of land on Jl. Pulo Mas Barat in East Jakarta to grow vegetables regardless of the absence of legal procedures on land utilization.

Mukhlis Simanjuntak, one of the people, said they just wanted to cultivate the 3,000-square-meter plot, which is located near a luxury housing complex, to enable them get food supplies amid the monetary crisis.

Mukhlis said the people, who came from Pulo Mas and Pulogadung districts in East Jakarta and Senen in Central Jakarta, had no idea who owned the land.

"We don't know about legal procedures. We're hungry," he told reporters yesterday.

Mukhlis, who lives in Pulogadung, said the people had submitted a letter, signed by 75 people, yesterday to Pulogadung district head Mochtar Harahap, asking his permission to utilize the land for growing vegetables.

"Besides meeting the district head, we have also met Pulogadung Police chief and Pulogadung military commander and local neighborhood chief Harun A. Rasyid," he said.

He said that representatives of the people intending to utilize the land would meet with local authorities for a second time to discuss their demands because residents living near the land opposed the cultivation plan.

"If they reject our request, it's OK for me. But I don't know what my friends will do," said Mukhlis.

Mochtar, who visited the area yesterday, said he would discuss the demand with East Jakarta Mayor Soedarsono because the idle land was owned by the state. "It's all his decision," he said.

Mukhlis said the people, who started arriving at the site on Monday, divided the land into several plots of about 25 square meters each.

"Most of the people intending to grow vegetables work as mikrolet (minivan) drivers or have no job at all. It's better for us to be involved in such a project rather than killing our time by playing cards or stealing amid the crisis," said Mukhlis, who is a mikrolet driver on the Senen-Rawamangun route.

He said the idea of utilizing the idle land came after they heard the government announcement suggesting that everyone utilize idle land in order to get a food supply amid the crisis.

"If the government would like to use the land, according to its original plan, we are ready to leave this site," he said. (ivy)