Soeharto's family has vast lands in Lombok

JAKARTA (JP): The National Land Agency (BPN) has discovered a total of more than nine million square meters of land in West Nusa Tenggara listed as belonging to firms of former president Soeharto's family.

Tjahjana M. Ruchjat, chief of BPN branch office in West Nusa Tenggara's provincial capital of Mataram, confirmed that the land's measurements and location have been sent to State Minister for Land Affairs Hasan Basri Durin.

"After obtaining an instruction from the minister to locate land in the province belonging to the Cendana family, we have discovered several wide plots of land," Antara news agency quoted Tjahjana as saying here on Monday.

The minister recently instructed provincial offices to make an inventory of the former first family's property. Officials have cited difficulty given the possibility that the property is listed under various firms, individuals or foundations.

Tjahjana said the land comprised of 8.9 million square meters in three villages in Central Lombok, 20,000 square meters in Kuta Village in Pujut subdistrict in Central Lombok, and 275,000 square meters in Batunampar in East Lombok.

Tjahjana said that the almost nine-million-square-meter plot in Truai, Sengkol and Kuta Villages in Central Lombok was occupied by PT Pengembangan Pariwisata Lombok, 45 percent of whose shares are owned by PT Rajawali, a private company owned by Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana and her husband Indra Rukmana.

"A tourism project is being developed on the land," he said.

He said the 20,000-square-meter plot is occupied by PT Istana Putri Mandalika, a majority of whose shares are owned by PT Rajawali. The 275,000-square-meter plot in East Lombok was occupied by PT Pecatu Indah Brick, a brick factory owned by Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra.

Tjahjana noted tycoon Bob Hasan, one of Soeharto's cronies, is also building an oil factory on a 302-hectare plot of land in Pemongkong Village in East Lombok.

He admitted that Soeharto's family had used "pressure" on local administrations in getting documents for the plots.

The province measures 47,389 square kilometers.

Meanwhile, around 100 residents living near Soeharto's famed Tapos farm demonstrated at the Attorney General's office in Jakarta, demanding that the former president be brought to trial for taking their land by force without compensation.

Representatives of the Solidarity for Indonesian Farmers stated the "looting" of their land started in 1974 through a company called PT Rejo Sari Bumi. Crops were destroyed as part of the terror, farmers said.

On Saturday several shacks owned by farmers who had begun planting their crops on Tapos were reportedly burnt down, after which farmers suspected the company employees. (rms)