DISPUTED M'SIAN AMBASSADOR'S FORMER RESIDENCE IN KEMANG RAYA RETURNED TO M'SIA

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya

JAKARTA, May 21 (Bernama) -- A disputed plot of land that housed former
Malaysian Ambassador's official residence at No. 48, Jalan Kemang Raya, Jakarta
was returned to Malaysia by the Indonesian government.

South Jakarta Mayor Shahrul Effendi who handed the letter to Malaysian
Embassy's deputy chief of Mission Amran Mohamed Zin said the Indonesian
government had cleared the site of illegal settlers.

Shahrul said the land was handed back to Malaysia after the Indonesian
Supreme Court had ruled that the land belonged to the Malaysian government.

The Malaysian Embassy had been involved in a 12-year court battle to regain
the 4,950 square meter land that was bought in 1971 by the Malaysian government
from its owner Rumphus Erwin Sondakh, to house the official residence of the
Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia.

However, in 1982, the former Malaysian Ambassador the late Mohamed
Rahmat had vacated the house and stationed security guards to look after the
house.

Sixteen years later when there was a political crisis and reformation in
1998, an Indonesian by the name of Frederik Matheus Pietersz, had led a group of
people and encroached the land, setting up illegal settlements that were later
demolished by the authorities after the court ruling.

Pietersz later sold the land to another Indonesian, Mulyo Setiawan and the
Badan Pertanahan Nasional (BPN) Indonesia had issued a land ownership
certificate to Mulyo.

However, when BPN nullified the ownership, Mulyo filed a claim in court but
was rejected on Aug 10, 1999 but Mulyo made an appeal to the High Court which
accepted his application.

The Malaysian Embassy then made an appeal at the Supreme Court (Indonesia)
which accepted the application on Feb 13, 2001 but the matter was not closed as
Mulyo once again made an appeal for the court to review the decision and on Oct
26, 2004, the Supreme Court ruled that the land belonged to the Malaysian
Embassy.

Mulyo however, continued to house his people at the site until the latest
demolition was carried out.
-- BERNAMA