Will the farmers till their land in Jonggol in future?

Will the farmers till their land in Jonggol in future?

By Joko Sarwono

BOGOR, West Java (JP): The echoes of the major development
plan in the Jonggol subdistrict to local residents' ears is so
strong that they are willing to sell their properties.

Most farmers cultivate land belonging to others after selling
their own land to Jakartans.

Ahmad Marzuki, a 35-year-old West Java teacher said most land
in Jonggol now belonged to Jakarta-based companies or
individuals.

He cited the rice fields in front of the Sirnagalih village
hall. "The land belongs to Jakartans".

Ahmad, who was born in Sirnagalih, said he was aware of
Jonggol's social and economic changes since people heard about
the Jonggol development. He teaches at the Tsanawiyah Riyaadlul
Islamic elementary school in Sirnagalih.

PT Bukit Jonggol Asri, the consortium in charge of the Jonggol
development, has the right to build on 30,000 hectares of land.
This is almost half the size of Jakarta.

The area covers three districts containing 24 villages.

"The development plan encourages people to sell their land. No
wonder the prices of the land has been soaring from time to
time," he said.

Land near the village's street cost between Rp 10,000 and Rp
15,000 a square meter in 1993 but now costs between Rp 50,000 and
Rp 60,000 a square meter.

A land broker said residents who owned a large plot usually
divided it into 300-square-meter plots.

"Each plot cost Rp 6.5 million before President Soeharto
officially approved the project on Dec. 18. Now the plot costs Rp
9.5 million," said the broker, who wanted his name withheld.

The broker, who lives in Jakarta, said he could arrange
cheaper plots a little farther from the main street. "We offer
you Rp 14,000 per square meter," the man said.

"The land business is very lucrative. Unfortunately I started
the business only two months ago," he said.

Ahmad said many locals sold their land so they could buy
motorbikes for their teenagers.

Ahmad and the land broker said so far no one had been
intimidated or pressured into selling their land.

"Families with new motorcycles in their homes are those who
have just sold their land," he said.

Ahmad said most farmers were old with children who did not
want to be farmers.

"It's now hard to find younger people who want to cultivate
land. Many families sold the land for a new motorcycle to be used
as an ojek (motorcycle taxi)," he said.

Another factor pushing the sale of land was skillful land
brokers, he said.

Many land brokers were locals who get the premium from
developers for getting people to sell their land, he said.

Ahmad said those who had sold their land were usually lower
class farmers while middle class farmers were usually more
patient.

"They are more patient in waiting until the price of the land
gets higher," Ahmad said.

"Many village heads, who had motorcycles in the past, now have
expensive cars, such as Escudo and Vitara which cost more than Rp
40 million each," Ahmad said.

But he did not explicitly say the village heads had been
involved in land sales.

A land broker said experience showed almost all ranks of
village and government officials in the area were involved in
land business recently.

Increase

Locals said many farmers had changed profession and many now
drove local transit vehicles or ojek.

This has apparently become a boon for car and motorcycle
dealers.

One resident said motorcycle sales were very high. "People
bought motorbikes like fried peanuts. Many buyers have had to
wait seven days to get their motorcycles after they paid for
them," he said.

Susilawati, a marketing staff at SK Motor, a Yamaha motor
dealer said: "We have sold 28 motorbikes every month in the
period of between 1993 and 1995. This year we sell an average of
50 motorbikes every month."

She said most buyers were Jonggol farmers.

Indra Kusuma, manager of a Suzuki car shop Primatama Tata
Sejati, said he had sold five cars in a month.

"Most of the vehicles are pickup trucks,' Indra said.

Car and motorcycle dealers have apparently smelled the
opportunity. No wonder Jonggol has two car dealers and four
motorcycle dealers. "There were only two motorcycle dealers in
Jonggol in 1990," he said.

"The new dealers will serve not only the new rich people, but
also the newcomers. In the future when the housing complexes and
offices are constructed we will already be ready," Indra said.