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Jakarta Post

Land owners unseal 46 schools after promise to hire them as civil servants

The land owners said they had let the regency administration build schools on their land in exchange for a guarantee that they would be employed as civil servants.

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, September 21, 2018

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Land owners unseal 46 schools after promise to hire them as civil servants The schools, which were comprised of elementary, junior high and high schools, were sealed for two days since Wednesday due to the land owners’ dispute with the agency. (Shutterstock/-)

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and owners who sealed 46 schools in Pamekasan, East Java, finally agreed to unseal them after being persuaded by the education agency with a promise to hire them as civil servants.

The schools, which were comprised of elementary, junior high and high schools, were sealed for two days since Wednesday due to the land owners’ dispute with the agency.

“We were being duped for years by them, telling us that we would be hired as civil servants if we let them build schools on [our land]. But until today, they never hired us and gave us various reasons why they couldn’t hire us,” Pardi, one of the land owners, said on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com.

The 46 land owners have asked the Pamekasan regency administration for assurance of their employment status, but they never received a satisfactory answer.

Pardi said the sealing was a way for them to air their disappointment, as well as demand the local administration to fulfill their promise.

After a representative from the Pamekasan Education Agency met with the land owners, they finally agreed to unseal the schools. Sudirman, the owner of the land where the Palesanggar 1 elementary school stood, said a representative had told them that the agency would try to help them get hired as civil servants.

“Although we only met with the representative, we would still unseal the schools on our own accord,” Sudirman said on Friday. “Our demand has also been conveyed to the Pamekasan Education Agency head so we will unseal it so the children can study again.”

Meanwhile, education agency head Moh. Tarsun confirmed that a representative of his institution would hold another meeting with the land owners on Monday. The result of the meeting will be conveyed to the administrative and bureaucratic reform minister.

Although he said he supported the land owners working as civil servants, he still could not assure them that they would be hired.

“The minister holds the authority to hire them, not the Pamekasan regency administration,” Tarsun said. (ris)

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