Jakarta Globe, Made Arya Kencana& Antara, August 02, 2010
Denpasar. Bali’s booming property market is being overrun by rogue developers who are forging land titles in order to stake bogus claims to high-yield land investments, a prominent local legislator said on Monday.
“These people are cashing in on Bali being a famous island that holds strategic future value,” Made Arjaya said.
He said that of greater concern for Bali’s burgeoning property market was that those involved in illegal practices were being awarded land ownership through the courts, raising more questions about the country’s endemically corrupt and embattled judiciary.
Arjaya, a former official for provincially held assets and a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), called on the police to investigate the land disputes and shine a light on the organized groups that he said were behind the land grabs.
The legislator said he became aware of the frauds through lawyer HK Kosasih, who also represents Bali property developer Edy Sukaton Saputra.
In January 1996, Margasrikaton Dwi Pratama, a company that Edy served on as a director, won an auction for a parcel of state-owned land. The auction was organized and conducted by the National Land Agency (BPN).
Margasrikaton was awarded a contract and title deed to develop a 230,450-square-meter lot in Badung district’s Ungasan village. But that is where the good times ended for the company.
Shortly after being handed the title, another group, led by Bali native I Wayan Tama, claimed it was in possession of the authentic land titles, despite the BPN running an auction for land that was clearly state-owned.
The wrangling continued up until November 2005, when the Supreme Court in Jakarta ruled in favor of Tama and his associates.
“What makes absolutely no sense is why the Supreme Court approved their claim based on patently falsified documents,” Arjaya said.
He added that a criminal investigation of the case would undoubtedly lead to similar cases being uncovered both in Bali and elsewhere in the country.
The legislator said there were large plots of state land across Bali vulnerable to similar takeovers, including a combined 11 hectares in Pecatu village, Badung, which is the site of a planned tourist resort and is currently embroiled in a dispute between the provincial administration and a local developer.
The Garuda Wisnu Kencana park in South Kuta, the site of a planned commercial and tourist center, has been abandoned due to a similar dispute.
“We risk allowing those two strategic assets to be taken over by rogue investors,” Arjaya said.
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