Sutiyoso irked by company's annulment of land-swap deal

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A protracted legal dispute concerning a land swap involving state SMP 56 junior high school in prestigious Melawai, South Jakarta, has apparently irked Governor Sutiyoso, who accused on Monday the developer, PT Tata Disantara, of having a "vested interest".

"The legal process is still ongoing, but the company decided to annul the swap. Such a move has raised suspicion over what lay behind the deal and the one-sided annulment," Sutiyoso said at City Hall.

Annulment would simply mean that the city administration had to return the two properties in Jeruk Purut and Bintaro, both in South Jakarta, to the company.

The building at Jeruk Purut is currently earmarked for the relocation of SMP 56 students, while the building in Bintaro accommodates state SMA 87 high school.

"It's business interests would then affect more students, who are currently studying at these schools (Jeruk Purut and Bintaro), and not only students who insist on staying in the Melawai building -- that makes no sense," Sutiyoso remarked.

Earlier, PT Tata Disantara spokesperson Dian A Zulkarnain said in a statement that the company would not proceed with the land swap if it were not in accordance with existing procedures and regulations.

The deal dates back to 2001, when the Ministry of Education and PT Tata Disantara signed a controversial property transfer deal.

The company, which is owned by former manpower minister, businessman Abdul Latief, planned to build a "business and management institute" at the Melawai site, close to Latief's Pasaraya Grande shopping mall.

However, students, parents and teachers of SMP 56 opposed the deal, citing that it had been made without their consent.

They filed a civil suit in protest at the land swap, but the South Jakarta District Court threw it out last December. The parents and teachers then appealed to the Jakarta High Court.

Late last month, they sought protection from the National Commission on Human Rights in the face of eviction planned by the administration and instructions to cease teaching activities at the Melawai building.