SMPN 56 students, teachers seek rights protection

SMPN 56 students, teachers seek rights protection

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Students, parents and teachers of the SMPN 56 state junior high
school opposing a controversial property deal sought protection
from the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on
Friday, the day they were supposed to be evicted.

"The Commission has urged all parties to respect the legal
processes of the case and the (District) Court ruling of status
quo," said Lambok Gultom, head of the parents and teachers' legal
team. The team had received similar backing and advice from
legislators at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, he said.

Gultom said the status quo meant the school must be returned
to its previous state before the transfer.

The South Jakarta District Court threw out a civil suit by
parents and teachers fighting a property transfer between the
Ministry of National Education and private firm PT Tata Disantara
in December.

It said the grounds for the suit were obscure and did not
represent the interests of teachers and students.

The parents and teachers then appealed the decision at the
Jakarta High Court.

According to the lower court's decision, should one of the
disputing parties filed an appeal over the ruling, the transfer
deal could not be executed until a final verdict was issued. The
status quo ruling then took effect.

The appeal is the latest step in a dispute that began in 2000,
when the Ministry of Education and private firm Tata Disantara
signed a controversial property transfer deal. The deal swapped
the school's property on Jl. Melawai Raya, South Jakarta, with
the firm's property in Jeruk Purut, South Jakarta, without
consent from the parents and teachers.

The firm is owned by former manpower minister, businessman
Abdul Latief.

Parents and teachers have opposed the plan because they say
the new premises is far from their homes and in a tough area.

"The transfer deal is suspicious, as the value of the
compensation for the school's property is way below its real
value," Gultom added.

In the deal, the school property of 4,580-square-meters is
valued at Rp 5 million (US$595) per square meter -- but average
sales of property after tax in the area are between Rp 10 to 15
million per square meter.

Gultom said the transfer also violated Presidential Decrees
No.16/1994 and No.24/1995, which stated any transfer of state
assets higher than Rp 10 billion must have the President's
approval.

Nurlaila, a teacher at the school, said with the support and
recommendations from the House and the commission, she would keep
on teaching her students at the school.

"We will also continue to fight for our school and ask the
administration to restore the academic rights of the remaining
students," she said.

Sixty-five first year students have been denied student
registration numbers and report cards by the Jakarta Elementary
and Intermediate Education Agency until they moved to the new
school building in Jeruk Purut.

All second and third-year students have already been relocated
to Jeruk Purut.