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.