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.