Sutiyoso's Puncak hideaway gets the wrecker's ball

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.