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ngoing problems at the Puri Garden Apartments, including the alleged fraud of building manager PT Bima Sena Arthapratama, have led tenants to transfer management of the building to PT Uniteknindo Inti Sarana.

More than 300 tenants protested last week over Bima Sena's allegedly illegal handover of their property certificates and Final Sales and Purchase Agreement (AJB) documents to Bank Muamalat as collateral for the building's mortgage.

Bima Sena's head manager, Daniel Hamran, remains at large.

"The Puri Garden PPRS *tenants' association* has given us the authority to facilitate their basic needs, such as water, electricity, waste disposal and phone services for an undefined period of time," said Doni Hari, head of Uniteknindo's Puri Garden unit.

Aside from the dispute over the documents, tenants have repeatedly complained over Bima Sena's poor management and maintenance of the building.

Tenants claim they paid all their water, electricity and phone bills to Bima Sena but that the company did not transfer the money to the appropriate authorities, leading to frequent service disruptions since 2005, including regular blackouts.

Tenants said the state electricity company cut off the power because it had not received the money for their electricity bills.

The management of the apartment resorted to using two generators, but, because of frequent use, both broke (one beyond repair).

The frequent electrical problems have left more than a few tenants trapped in the buildings elevators, an experience one resident described as "traumatizing".

This resident has said that, since the incident, she prefers to climb the long flight of stairs to her twelfth floor apartment.

Tensions increased recently with red and black banners demanding the property certificates and AJB documents be returned appearing in the lobby of the building.

The tenants say they have been cheated.

One tenant, who requested anonymity, said she was confused as to why management had been transferred without her consent.

"The latter *Bima Sena* suddenly appeared without prior notification to the tenants," she said, questioning the company's professionalism.

Lawyer for the tenants Rizal Farid said the PPRS had reported the case to the city police earlier this month.

He previously handled the case of Fifi Tanang, chairwoman of Mangga Dua's PPRS, who was sentenced to six months in prison and one year of probation for defaming developer PT Duta Pertiwi.

In Fifi's case, 16 years after buying their apartments, tenants learned the land on which the building stood belonged to the Jakarta administration, something they claimed the developer had never informed them about.

Fifi and other tenants sent letters to the editors of several newspapers, leading the developer to file a lawsuit against them.

Another tenant, Khoe Seng Seng (Aseng), is facing a sentence of one year in prison for writing her letter; Aseng said he would appeal to the court over the decision.

Leo Batubara, a member of the press council, said this kind of dispute between a big company and small entrepreneurs is the perfect example of the lack of press freedom in Indonesia. The government, he says, is trying use the Criminal Code to kill off press freedom.

Rizal said the change of management of the Puri Garden Apartments was the first step to save its tenants from water, electricity, and phone problems.

The second step would be to get back the tenants' home certificates and AJB documents.

He also mentioned the possibility that construction credits were behind the fraud.