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Widows may be charged for squatting
Soetarti Soekarno, the widow of a military officer, cried when answering reporters’ questions on her first trial for allegedly squatting in state-owned residential property at the East Jakarta District Court on Wednesday
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oetarti Soekarno, the widow of a military officer, cried when answering reporters’ questions on her first trial for allegedly squatting in state-owned residential property at the East Jakarta District Court on Wednesday.
Codefendant Rusmini, also a military widow and facing the same charges, said she wanted to be acquitted. “I don’t know why I am being prosecuted. I hope the judges have mercy on an old woman like me,” Soetarti said.
State prosecutor Ibnu Suud charged the widows for violating the 1992 Housing and Settlement Law and the Criminal Code for allegedly squatting in state-owned houses without consent from state pawnbroking firm Perum Pegadaian, the owner of the houses and the firm where the defendants’ late husbands worked.
If found guilty, both defendants face prison sentences of up to two years and Rp 20 million (US$2,193) in fines.
The case revolves around the occupancy of two houses located at a housing complex for Pegadaian officials on Jl. Cipinang Jaya, East Jakarta. Both defendants’ husbands were members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and worked at Pegadaian after being discharged.
Soetarti’s husband R. Sukarno, who died in 2003, worked at the firm from 1954 to 1987. Rusmini’s husband Ahmad Kusaini, who died in 1998, worked from 1952 to 1985.
In 1996, both widows and 15 other occupants of state-owned houses filed requests at the Jakarta State Administrative Court to allow them to purchase the houses. Thirteen of the requests were granted but the other four, including those filed by the widows, were turned.
Since 2007, the widows and the two other occupants have appealed to the Supreme Court to get official clearance to buy the houses. The case is ongoing.
Ibnu said during the trial that the 1992 Pegadaian director’s regulation stipulated that the houses were for active officials. “Each Pegadaian employee must sign an agreement with the firm should they wish to reside in the house. The employee must also be willing to vacate the premises if the company terminates their tenancy,” he said.
The 1994 government regulation (revised by a 2008 presidential regulation), which covers the procedures, transfer of status and property of state-owned houses, allows occupants to buy the houses.
Ibnu said the firm had requested the defendants leave the houses on several occasions between 1996 and 2008. The firm then filed a police report in January last year.
“Defense counsel Ki Agus Ahmad said that “the charges are premature. The prosecutor should have waited for the Supreme Court verdict before proceeding with the case”.
