Sutiyoso pledges to get back Thousand Islands

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso pledged on Monday to get back some islands in the Pulau Seribu (Thousand Islands group) which are currently been managed privately by certain conglomerates.

"I agree that the islands should be returned to the city administration and managed by the administration itself," Sutiyoso told reporters.

He said he would order the new regent of the islands, which are soon be inaugurated as a regency, to identify those islands that were privately managed.

He said his administration would change the policy adopted by previous administration officials regarding the management of the islands making up the Thousand Islands chain, .

"We will change the policy, but we will also stick to the letter of the law. There must be a legal basis for taking back the islands," Sutiyoso said at City Hall.

According to the Government Regulation No. 55/2001 on the Thousand Islands regency, the regency, which will consist of 110 islands, is to come under the jurisdiction of the city administration.

The Thousand Islands chain comprises 110 islands, but some 40 islands are reportedly owned or managed by private companies. The larger of the remaining 70 islands are home to about 17,000 inhabitants, while most of the smaller ones are uninhabited.

Some senior officials in the State Secretariat, the institution which played the paramount role in issuing permits for the use of the islands, reportedly manage several islands themselves.

Some of the privately managed islands have been converted into tourist destinations, such as Bidadari, Putri and Matahari, while the others are used for private purposes by some conglomerates.

In contrast to the privately managed islands, those which are inhabited by indigenous islanders are very backward as many of them lack potable water and electricity.

City councillors have called on the city administration to get the islands back in accordance with the spirit of regional autonomy.

The deputy chairman of the Council's Commission A for administrative and legal affairs, Syarifien Maloko, was of the view that the private islands' owners had at least violated the requirement to provide 40 percent of the land for social and public facilities.

Another councillor, Abdul Azis Matnur, alleged many had also violated zoning regulations, causing environmental damage.

Some islands have reportedly suffered extensive degradation while others have disappeared beneath the waves due to illegal sand extraction to provide building materials for the development of the private islands.

Environmental damage to a coral reef was reportedly occasioned when a businessman connected to powerholders at the center built a golf course on his island.

The island chain, which at the moment constitutes a district of the North Jakarta mayoralty, will be enlarged into two districts so as to satisfy the requirements for it to become a regency.

The business magnates who reportedly own the islands include property tycoon Ciputra, publisher Surya Paloh, banker Tommy Winata and hotelier Pontjo Sutowo.

Former President Soeharto's children, including Sigit Harjojudanto, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, and Bambang Trihatmodjo, as well as Soeharto's half-brother Probosutedjo, reportedly also own some of the islands.(jun)