Supreme Court criticized for changing ruling

JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court's decision to reverse its own ruling on the Kedung Ombo land dispute is coming under fire from prominent experts in law and public figures.

Noted legal experts, such as Satjipto Rahardjo and Frans Hendra Winarta, as well as public figures, such as Catholic priest Y.B. Mangunwijaya, said yesterday that the Supreme Court should not have canceled its own ruling on the land dispute.

"It is a pity that the Supreme Court reversed its own ruling," Satjipto, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, said.

The previous Supreme Court ruling, which granted compensation of Rp 50,000 a square meter to the plaintiffs, could have set a precedent for the implementation of Indonesia's legal system, he said.

"The first Supreme Court decision granting the 34 Kedung Ombo villagers compensation of Rp 50,000 per square meter could have functioned as a milestone for future decisions," Satjipto, who is also a lecturer at the School of Law of Diponegoro University in Semarang, told The Jakarta Post.

Frans Hendra Winarta, a prominent lawyer at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), said the Supreme Court's decision to cancel its own ruling was groundless.

"No precise factors can support the Supreme Court's reversal of its ruling," Frans said.

There was no new evidence found and no mistakes were detected during the trial of the case, nor were there any mistakes in the judges' decision, he said.

Regarding the Rp 50,000 in compensation, which is more than the Rp 10,000 sought by the villagers and much more than the Rp 4,000 the government was willing to offer, Frans said the amount was reasonable in light of the present conditions.

He said the Rp 10,000 compensation per square meter was the price sought by the villagers 10 years ago. Therefore, it was understandable for Judge Asikin Kusumah Atmadja, who presided over the first Supreme Court trial, to rule that the government pay Rp 50,000 per square meter based on current land prices.

The Supreme Court has reversed its own ruling on the land dispute, and has now ruled in favor of the government, which was sued by the 34 evicted villagers.

The latest Supreme Court position was announced to the press on Monday by outgoing Chief Justice Purwoto Suhadi Gandasubrata on the day he handed over the post to his successor Soerjono.

Earlier, Purwoto and the Court were lauded by various political and legal circles on the first ruling, which ordered the government to pay compensation to the villagers whose land was procured by the state for the huge reservoir in Kedung Ombo, Central Java.

The court also ordered the government to pay Rp 2 billion ($952,000) in "non-material" losses to the farmers.

Two lower courts had previously passed rulings in favor of the government.

The reversal of the nation's highest court's decision came after the government, in this case the Central Java provincial government and the Ministry of Public Works, applied for a review of the case with the Supreme Court.

Presidential decree

Both Satjipto and Frans disagreed with Purwoto's reasoning that the decision to reverse the ruling was made because the Supreme Court had failed to take into account a 1993 presidential decree on setting compensation rates for land acquired by the government. Instead, the Court had based its decision on a 1975 ministerial decree which had been superseded by the 1993 ruling.

"The presidential decree is lower in rank compared to the law, Satjipto said, adding that it could not be used as a reference in canceling the ruling.

Mangunwijaya questioned the credibility of the Supreme Court in the wake of the reversal of its own ruling.

"A top level institution like the Supreme Court, which reversed its own ruling, will lose its credibility," he said.

Mangunwijaya said it could be construed to mean that there is no legal justice here. (har/imn)