Tsunami victims protest land demarcation

Tsunami victims protest land demarcation

Around one hundred people affected by the Dec. 26 tsunami in Aceh staged a protest on Thursday against the state land agency's (BPN) plan to handle the demarcation of their land.

The protesters from 24 villages in Aceh Besar and Banda Aceh were led by Wardah Hafidz, who represented Uplink Indonesia, a non-governmental organization.

They arrived at the BPN office at around 10 a.m. in motorized pedicabs and on motorcycles. They demanded that the agency stop measuring their land. The demarcation process is necessary for the rebuilding of their destroyed homes.

Wardah argued that Uplink Indonesia in cooperation with local residents had already measured the land using an "accountable process and standard" in line with the procedures set out by the Aceh Land Right Recovery and Land Administration System Reconstruction.

"Specifically, for the 24 villages (of the protesters), we are asking local land agencies to conduct random checks of the land demarcation, which used the method of total station survey," she said.

Wardah said if the BPN remeasured the land it would waste as much as Rp 9.6 billion (US$960,000) in state funds.

However, the protesters under tight police guard, were unable to meet Aceh's BPN office head Razali Yahya, who was said to be attending a meeting in Jakarta.