Malang, NU Online
Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Saturday the government regretted Wednesday's deadly shooting of four villagers by marines during a land dispute in Pasuruan regency, East Java, but that said people should let the law take its course.
He said he talked to East Java Governor Imam Utomo and the Commander of the Navy's Eastern Fleet Rear Admiral Moekhlas Sidiq.<>
"The Indonesian Military head (Air Chief Marshal Djoko Suyanto) has also apologized (for the shooting)," Kalla said at Abdurahman Saleh airport in Malang, East Java.
He blamed the incident on the overcrowding of Java's land and urged for the improvement of farming productivity.
"But we will solve this case according to the law. Hopefully, such incidents won't take place again in the future," Kalla said.
When asked whether or not the case constituted a serious breach of human rights, Kalla said he was asking people to leave it to the legal process.
"The court will be the one to decide whether the incident was a heavy or light human rights violation or a common crime. Let the law decide... with the people as witness," Kalla said.
The Jakarta Post reported, the Wednesday shooting in Tlogo hamlet in Grati subdistrict occurred during a protest over a land dispute between the Navy and local residents.
The Pasuruan District Court earlier ruled in favor of the Navy's claim, but residents have appealed and a decision is pending.
Thirteen marines have been named suspects in the deadly shooting. The commander of the unit involved in the shooting has also been replaced.
On a Saturday trip to Malang, Kalla paid a brief visit to shooting victims 21-year-old Erwanto and three-year-old Choirul Anwar at the Saiful Anwar hospital.
The hospital's deputy director, Respati, said Kalla asked the victims and their families about the state of their health.
When asked about the prospects of moving the navy's battlefield exercise center from Grati subdistrict in Pasuruan to another area, Kalla said it would not be possible.
"Here we have the navy's base, its academy and its education facilities, including those for the marines. They need training grounds. If they don't train, they can't be good marines and they can't defend the country," Kalla said.
Kalla said he was told by Moekhlas that residents did not need to worry because the navy had started to reduce its hold on the land and return part of the land to local residents.
"It's impossible for the Navy to let go all of its assets, especially the training ground. Although (the training ground construction) has not yet started, the budget is there and (the site) will be made into a training ground," he said.
Lawmaker Effendy Choirie of the defense and foreign affairs commission at the House of Representatives said the disputed land was part of some 10,000 hectares of land appropriated by the Navy by force in the 1960s.
Kusnanto Anggoro, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said a recent study found more than 100 cases of land appropriated without compensation or purchased at artificially low prices from people nationwide.
"In the courts, landowners have generally been defeated because the TNI or unauthorized officers could pay for court verdicts," Kusnanto said. He said this was the case with the land dispute between residents and the Navy in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta.
Effendy said all resources such as land and buildings used by all the military belonged to the state and were managed by the Finance Ministry under Law No. 1/2004 on the state treasury.
"The state and the TNI should return the disputed land to the people and the military should stop using state resources to do business." (dar)
Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Saturday the government regretted Wednesday's deadly shooting of four villagers by marines during a land dispute in Pasuruan regency, East Java, but that said people should let the law take its course.
He said he talked to East Java Governor Imam Utomo and the Commander of the Navy's Eastern Fleet Rear Admiral Moekhlas Sidiq.<>
"The Indonesian Military head (Air Chief Marshal Djoko Suyanto) has also apologized (for the shooting)," Kalla said at Abdurahman Saleh airport in Malang, East Java.
He blamed the incident on the overcrowding of Java's land and urged for the improvement of farming productivity.
"But we will solve this case according to the law. Hopefully, such incidents won't take place again in the future," Kalla said.
When asked whether or not the case constituted a serious breach of human rights, Kalla said he was asking people to leave it to the legal process.
"The court will be the one to decide whether the incident was a heavy or light human rights violation or a common crime. Let the law decide... with the people as witness," Kalla said.
The Jakarta Post reported, the Wednesday shooting in Tlogo hamlet in Grati subdistrict occurred during a protest over a land dispute between the Navy and local residents.
The Pasuruan District Court earlier ruled in favor of the Navy's claim, but residents have appealed and a decision is pending.
Thirteen marines have been named suspects in the deadly shooting. The commander of the unit involved in the shooting has also been replaced.
On a Saturday trip to Malang, Kalla paid a brief visit to shooting victims 21-year-old Erwanto and three-year-old Choirul Anwar at the Saiful Anwar hospital.
The hospital's deputy director, Respati, said Kalla asked the victims and their families about the state of their health.
When asked about the prospects of moving the navy's battlefield exercise center from Grati subdistrict in Pasuruan to another area, Kalla said it would not be possible.
"Here we have the navy's base, its academy and its education facilities, including those for the marines. They need training grounds. If they don't train, they can't be good marines and they can't defend the country," Kalla said.
Kalla said he was told by Moekhlas that residents did not need to worry because the navy had started to reduce its hold on the land and return part of the land to local residents.
"It's impossible for the Navy to let go all of its assets, especially the training ground. Although (the training ground construction) has not yet started, the budget is there and (the site) will be made into a training ground," he said.
Lawmaker Effendy Choirie of the defense and foreign affairs commission at the House of Representatives said the disputed land was part of some 10,000 hectares of land appropriated by the Navy by force in the 1960s.
Kusnanto Anggoro, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said a recent study found more than 100 cases of land appropriated without compensation or purchased at artificially low prices from people nationwide.
"In the courts, landowners have generally been defeated because the TNI or unauthorized officers could pay for court verdicts," Kusnanto said. He said this was the case with the land dispute between residents and the Navy in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta.
Effendy said all resources such as land and buildings used by all the military belonged to the state and were managed by the Finance Ministry under Law No. 1/2004 on the state treasury.
"The state and the TNI should return the disputed land to the people and the military should stop using state resources to do business." (dar)
