PT Jakarta Utilitas Propertindo (JUP), a subsidiary of city-owned developer Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro), plans to build a three-story building for the private Bina Tunas Bangsa (BTB) school on the 3,999-square-meter lot, which Jakpro claims to legally own.

In November residents staged a protest by padlocking the main gate to the plot and putting up posters decrying the project and alleging Jakpro and BTB were not transparent in the construction project and that they were taking over a green space that the residents had used for social activities for years.

BTB appear not to have responded positively to the protest. Pluit Putri residents’ lawyer and representative Kurniawan claimed his clients, four Pluit Putri residents, were reported to the North Jakarta Police for alleged trespassing.

However, the status of the plot has yet to be made fully clear as a legal battle still continues between residents under the Taman Pluit Putri Residents Forum and the North Jakarta One Stop Integrated Service Agency (PTSP North Jakarta), which issued a building permit (IMB) for the school construction and confirmed Jakpro's ownership of the land.

JUP has stated it has a valid legal basis to build in addition to ownership status of the plot being granted to Jakpro based on a gubernatorial decree (SK) in 1992.

“The residents only wish for BTB private school to respect the court proceeding, but instead it has replied with a police report,” Kurniawan told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He said that one of the four residents was summoned by the police for questioning on Tuesday, but it was too early to start an investigation because of the ongoing legal dispute. None of the residents had been named suspects, he added.

Kurniawan claimed the plot at the center of the dispute had been used as facilities for Pluit Putri housing complex and should not be converted for other uses, according to Article 22 of Home Ministerial Regulation No. 9/2009 on housing area utilities.

He also said that the plot had been an open green space with plants planted by the locals since the 1970s, hence it also played a role in absorbing water during the rainy season.

Meanwhile, JUP spokesman Andika Silva argued the plan to build a school on the plot of land was in accordance with the city’s spatial plan as it had previously received a building permit. He did not disclose further details on whether the school used the plot on the basis of a lease from the administration.

BTB lawyer Frank Hutapea confirmed that the school had filed a police report against residents.

“Reporting possible criminal activity is the right of anyone if their land is being trespassed upon,” Frank said.

He also claimed the Pluit Putri residents protesting against the project did not contest the ownership status of the plot, but rather the building permit.

He said the residents should have made the complaints to Jakpro years before as a Jakpro building already existed on the plot but was unchallenged by the residents.

In Jakarta, where vacant land and proper public space are limited, legal disputes often take place among parties claiming rights over plots of land. The central government through the Jakarta National Land Agency (BPN Jakarta) has started to distribute land certificates to residents for them to have valid evidence of their land ownership.

North Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Budhi Herdi Susianto did not respond to a Post request for comments on Thursday.

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