Residents lose class action filed against Sutiyoso

Residents lose class action filed against Sutiyoso

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Residents of Kelapa Gading district, North Jakarta, lost on
Thursday their class-action suit against Governor Sutiyoso at the
Jakarta State Administrative Court.

The suit was filed by over 400 families of community unit RW 6
of West Kelapa Gading subdistrict against the governor over his
decision to allow the construction of a sports mall in the area,
which was designated for social and public facilities.

After a three-month trial, the judges hearing the case decided
the suit was invalid.

"The suit was filed with the court after the 90-day deadline
after an administration policy is issued or after the policy
recipient(s) suffer a loss caused by the policy," said presiding
judge A. Manurung, who was accompanied by judges Bambang
Heriyanto and Disiflin F. Manao.

The judges were referring to Article 55 of Law No. 5/1986 on
the State Administrative Court.

Supreme Court Circular No. 2/1991 issued on July 9, 1991,
gives judges the leeway to count the deadline starting from the
day the policy recipient(s) obtained a copy of the written policy
or suffer any losses caused by the policy. The reasoning behind
this circular is that not all state institutions make public
their policies.

Representing the plaintiffs, the head of RW 6, Harry A.
Roboth, and a team of lawyers said they would challenge the
ruling with the high court.

Lawyer Carrel Ticulau said the ruling was flawed because the
judges repeatedly ignored demands for a suspension of the
construction of the sports mall, and they also did not allow
expert witnesses to testify in court on the designated function
of the area.

Another lawyer, Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto, said the residents
would file a similar suit at the Central Jakarta District Court
against Sutiyoso, Yayasan Darma Bakti Mahaka and construction
company PT Adhikarya.

The case revolves around the issuance of a gubernatorial
decree on July 19, 2001, authorizing Yayasan Darma Bakti Mahaka
to build the Kelapa Gading International Basketball Complex on
the 26,215 square-meter plot of land on Jl. Kelapa Nias, where
the community unit is located.

A ceremony to mark the construction took place in conjunction
with Jakarta's anniversary on June 22. The residents say the
administration never informed or involved them in the plan.

The construction was halted until Sutiyoso renewed the decree
on Feb. 8, 2002. On Feb. 25, about 400 families in the community
unit, as well as the heads of the neighboring RW 7 and RW 11
community units, signed a petition against the construction,
which they said disturbed the peace, obstructed the road and
polluted the air.

"Moreover, the land is where the squatters along the Kelapa
Gading River used to plant vegetables to eat," Roboth told The
Jakarta Post after the trial.

Ticulau, who also lives in Kelapa Gading, said the residents
had spent six months asking the administration to clarify the
development of the land.

"It was only in August that we finally obtained a copy of the
decree and found that no environmental impact analysis had been
made. So when we filed the suit at the court on Aug. 12, we were
still within the deadline," he said.

Despite the administration's claim that the sports mall will
be the largest in Southeast Asia, Roboth said the area only
consisted of one outdoor basketball court surrounded by 264 shop-
houses that were for lease. The construction is still unfinished,
and residents have put up banners expressing their displeasure
with the sports mall in order to deter people from leasing the
shop-houses.