Sutiyoso's Puncak hideaway gets the wrecker's ball

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In the face of strong public criticism, Governor Sutiyoso, who was found to be the owner of a villa in the catchment area of mountainous Puncak resort in Bogor regency, West Java, finally demolished the structure on Saturday morning.

The villa, located in Kampung Citamiang, Tugu Utara village, Cisarua district, was demolished by dozens of locals, witnessed by village chief, Jajat Sudrajat, and other local officials.

Jajat stunned the public with his announcement last Monday that Sutiyoso was one of several former top military officials who owned villas in Puncak. The villas were built on state land and had no building permits.

Puncak, along with nearby resort areas of Bogor and Cianjur, was first designated as a catchment area to protect Jakarta from the overflow of rivers coming from Bogor, with the issuance of a presidential decree by Sukarno in 1963.

But many top officials in the government and military have violated the decree, which has been renewed several times. Some use their real names, while others use the name of family members on the ownership documents.

The uncontrolled development of villas and other commercial buildings in the area started in the 1980s.

There are at least 2,000 villas in Megamendung and Cisarua districts in Puncak. Forty percent of them were built in protected areas and do not have building permits, according to Antara.

Sutiyoso's villa measuring 100 square meters was located on a one-hectare plot about seven kilometers from the main road, while the road to his villa was on a 45 degree slope.

Blushing with embarrassment, Sutiyoso admitted on Tuesday that he bought the villa when he was the Bogor Military commander in 1994. He defended himself, saying that his wooden villa was built on stilts and therefore did not affect water catchment. He claimed he never visited the villa because he was "allergic" to cold weather.

Since the disclosure of his ownership of the villa, the road heading to the spot has been tightly guarded by men who barricaded the road one kilometer from the villa.

Sutiyoso had said that he would not object to his villa being demolished, as long as other villas were also demolished.

On Saturday, workers did not touch the nearby villa belonging to former Indonesian Military chief Wiranto. But Jajat said that about 30 buildings would be demolished.

Wiranto's villa, made of concrete, was about 120 square meters and built on a 5,000 square meter property.