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.