1. “Last 86 families still fighting against Yogyakarta airport development to keep land” - ((Jakarta Post)) - July 23, 2018
From inside her closed house, Wagirah, 40, was reciting prayers in a last-ditch effort to defend her house and land against the development of a new airport in Yogyakarta.
But dozens of police, military and provincial public order personnel did not hear her prayers. Some of them came forward, forced open her door and dragged Wagirah and her son, Yuli, out.
Wearing pink praying attire, she fought off police officers who tried to carry her away from her house. They dropped her to the ground but she fought to stand up, trying to bite the hands that were trying to restrain her.
“I don’t want you demolish my house. You are an oppressor of small people,” she screamed repeatedly on Thursday.
That day, Wagirah’s house in Temon, Kulon Progo regency, was demolished to pave the way for a new, bigger airport for the province, called New Yogyakarta International Airport (NYIA), to replace the overcrowded Adisutjipto International Airport in Sleman regency. The demolition continued until Saturday, when all 10 houses were flattened to the ground.
Wagirah and her neighbors, all of them women, continued to defy the personnel. They threw dust and challenged the officers to a one-on-one fight.
The fight, however, came to a bitter end for the residents. Two excavators quickly destroyed her house.
At the same time, two women, Wagirah’s neighbors, tried to protect their belongings, which were going to be taken away by state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I.
Also wearing praying attire, they sat on their furniture while reciting prayers. They sometimes interrupted their prayers to express their anger to the people who wanted to take their land.
“Don’t you think about our children? They will come home from school to find they no longer have a house,” a woman yelled.
Ika Rochyanti, a resident, said she was punched in the nose by a policewoman while she was trying to defend her house. She showed a spot of blood on her white praying dress. “They took my Quran and I was dragged out of the house,” she said.
The defiant 86 families
Wagirah, Ika and the other women are part of 86 families who still refused to sell their land for the airport’s development. From Thursday to Saturday, AP I officials and 700 joint personnel finally demolished the rest of houses except for the village mosque.
Their fight to defend the land that was not just their home but also a source of income from agriculture had continued for years since 2012. The fight escalated last year when the company finished the legal process to buy the land. Some residents accepted the purchase, while others, like Wagirah, refused and claimed the legal process validating the land purchase did not have their consent as land owners.
The 86 families were united under the Association of Residents Rejecting Kulon Progo Forced Eviction. In 2012, there were thousands of members defying the acquisition. But many of them left the fight after they got a price they agreed with.
In April, the 86 families were the only ones left fighting AP I when the company cut the electricity supply and damaged their farmland.
They remained in the village and replanted their fields. “Because planting is fighting,” farmer Tuginah said in April.
The residents refused to agree to the prices offered by AP I because they had earned considerable income planting vegetables and fruits there. They believed they would not be able to find a suitable replacement for their fertile coastal soil.
“For the residents here, after harvesting their chilies, vegetables and fruits, they can easily buy a motorcycle [if they want],” resident Widi Sumarto said, describing the wealth the land had brought them.
Legal battle
The residents have taken several legal avenues to refuse the acquisition. They tried to find help from the Indonesian Ombudsman, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan).
But until now, they could not stop the land acquisition.
The land acquisition followed a procedure stipulated in Law No. 12/2012 on land procurement for public facilities. The law allows the government to procure land and pay compensation via the local court, called a konsiyasimechanism.
The residents’ lawyer, Teguh Purnomo, argued that the mechanism applied to the Temon residents was not valid.
“There has never been any agreement between the government and the residents under the association to comply with the konsiyasi mechanism. The residents still rightfully own the houses and the land,” he claimed.
However, the leader of the NYIA project, Sujiastono, begged to differ. He said the demolition and the land acquisition were done in compliance with the law.
“It has been decided firmly [by the court] that this land is not for housing anymore but for NYIA development,” he said.
He said the procedure was also done in line with human rights principles. AP I provided free transportation and helped pay the rent of 20 houses for the families under the association.
Mosque as last bastion
Losing her house and her field did not stop Wagirah from fighting.
She and dozens of others remained in their village and refused relocation.
“We’re going to stay here and help each other,” said Sofyan.
He said Al-Hidayah Mosque, a permanent building that is still standing in the demolished village, would be the residents’ “last bastion”.
Sofyan said they would keep fighting because they felt they had the rights to the land. “Our house and land are not for sale,” he said. (evi)
2. High school students speak out against Yogyakarta’s land law - ((Jakarta Post)) - July 23, 2018
Two high school students are speaking out against a land regulation in Yogyakarta that has been widely criticized as discriminatory.
Elisabet Larasati Kartika and Angelina Samodra, Grade 11 students from Stella Duce 1 high school, raised the issue during the 2018 Sagasitas Research Exhibition organized by the province’s Education, Youth and Sports Agency.
The event took place at the Gadjah Mada University’s Koesnadi Hardjasoemantri Cultural Center from Thursday to Saturday.
“It all began with a 1975 local regulation on the land rights of non-native Indonesian citizens,” Angelina told visitors on Saturday.
Their presentation was based on six months of research, interviewing citizens who oppose and support the law, as well as government officials who enforce the regulation.
Yogyakarta prohibits non-pribumi (non-native) Indonesians, including those of Chinese, Indian and Dutch-descent, from owning land. At most, they can secure a right-to-build certificate, which requires additional payments every 20 years equal to 20 percent of the property’s value.
According to Elisabet, the regulation was passed out of fear that non-natives would monopolize the land in Yogyakarta.
"[But now], there are laws that forbid the use of the term non-pribumi, and land rights should not be based on ethnicity or race,” she added.
She also pointed out that the discriminatory regulation contradicts other prevailing laws, such as the 2008 Law on the abolishment of racial and ethnic discrimination and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was ratified in 2006.
The two students hoped that their research would be useful for the public and the government. Some 70 people visited their stand during the event, including Ni’matul Huda, a law professor from Indonesia Islamic University.
“May the government provide justice and not discriminate its people by race,” Elisabet said.
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has twice requested for the policy to be repealed, but were rejected each time by Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X. (nor)
Bambang Muryanto, Kulon Progo
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