NORTH JAKARTA VIOLENCE CLAIMS OVER 100 VICTIMS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, April 14 (ANTARA) - At least 130 people were rushed to a nearest hospital as violence broke out between public order security guards who moved into a graveyard and locals who defended the site against an alleged attempt to remove an 18th century-old sacred tomb in the harbor area of North Jakarta on Wednesday.          "Up to now, we have received 130 victims," Koja Public Hospital President Director Togi Asman told ANTARA through an SMS text message on Wednesday evening.          Earlier in the morning, about a thousand public order guards (Satpol PP) marched to the graveyard complex built on land belonging to port company PT Pelindo II where there was a tomb of respected Muslim scholar, Habib Hasan bin Muhammnad Al Hadad also known as Mbah Priok, who spread Islam in North Jakarta in the 18th century.          According to the Jakarta regional government, the public order  guards were mobilized to the complex to demolish illegal buildings erected within the complex.           Togi Asman said that of the 130 victims, 66 were Satpol PP, 54 residents and 10 were policemen. Earlier report said two were killed but the hospital said there was no dead victims until evening.          Following the incident, the Jakarta city government expressed regret and concern over the outbreak of the violence  between residents and public order security guards at the Mbah Priok tomb in Koja.          "We apologize for the incident. We have stopped (mobilizing public order officers). We have to explain to the people that we are not going to demolish the tomb but illegal buildings," Deputy Governor Prijanto said.           He said the Jakarta city government would not demolish the tomb of "Mbah Priok" whose remains had actually been moved to the Semper Public Cemetery at the request of his heirs.          Priyanto said public order officers would only demolish illegal buildings erected around the tomb complex such as the 5-meter high gateway, walls and a number of illegal buildings erected to serve visitors to the tomb.          The owner of the land, port company PT Pelindo II, had provided a kind of compensation money amounting to Rp2.5 billion and a land of 5,000 sq m for Mbah Priok's heirs. The money and the land had not been provided as compensation  because in strict legal terms the land on which the tomb stood belonged to Pelindo, not to Mbah Priok's heirs.          According to Prianto, the heirs had land with a document but the land was not located at the site.  Mbah Priok's heirs claimed that they possessed land around the location up to 5.4 square hectares with an ownership document in the form of "Eigendom Verponding" No.4341 and No.1780.          One Mbah Priok's heirs, named Habib Muhammad bin Achmad had filed a lawsuit at the North Jakarta Court but the court on June 5, 2001 ruled that the lawsuit could not be accepted because the lawsuit was not clear.          Thus, as Habib Muhammad bin Achmad's side did not appeal the North Jakarta court verdict , legally the land belonged to PT Pelindo II based on a land management right document No. 01/Koja which covers a land of 1,452,270 sq m.          Following the incident, the Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) urged the Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Wahyono and the chief of Satpol PP, Haryanto Badjuri to resign from their posts.          "With the outbreak of the violence, the IPW called on the chiefs of the Jakarta Police and Satpol PP to resign ," Neta S Pane, Presidium chairman of the IPW, said.          Besides the two officials, Neta also asked Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo to take responsibility for the violence which caused over 100 victims. "IPW is saddened with this condition and therefore it calls for those responsible to resign," he said.          In the meantime, the Jakarta Regional Legislative Assembly (DPRD) also asked the Jakarta to be responsible for the incident. "We have invited the DPR's leadership and commissions' leaders to hold a meeting with the governor in the near future to ask for his responsibility," DPRD chairman Ferrial Sofyan said.          Besides calls for responsibilities of the relevant officials, the National Human Rights Commission (Komans Ham) will also set up a team to look into the violence whether there was human rights violation involved.          "We will form a team of investigation soon," Komnas Ham Deputy Chairman Yoseph Adi Prasetyo said.          The commission has officially issued a statement regretting the efforts forcefully demolish alleged illegal structures within the complex site. This is because the commission has previously written to the North Jakarta government to delay the execution of the building demolition.          The Jakarta Regional Legislative Assembly  will also establish a special committee to investigate the violence that broke out in front of the graveyard gate.          "We will propose the establishment of the special committee to investigate the case which caused the falling of over 100 victims in port area of North Jakarta ," Jakarta Deputy Chief Councilor Triwisaksana said.     (T.A014/H-NG/H-YH) 14-04-2010 23:20: