TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
No link between planning ministry fire and sea fence documents: Minister
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A police line is seen in front of the Public Relations Bureau of the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry/National Land Agency (BPN) building in Jakarta on Feb. 9, 2025. Fire ravaged the bureau's office on the evening of Feb. 8, 2025. (Kompas.com/Rama Paramahamsa)
A
government minister has dismissed speculation as to possible links between dubious land documents and a fire that broke out at the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry/National Land Agency (BPN) building in South Jakarta just before midnight on Saturday.
Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister/BPN head Nusron Wahid gave an assurance that no important documents were lost and refuted allegations that the incident was related to the destruction of evidence in cases of permits improperly issued to plots of land along the coast facing an illegal sea fence constructed in waters off Banten.
"What was burned was the Public Relations Bureau; there are no right to build [HGB], right to cultivate [HGU] or any documents there, so there is no such thing as destroying evidence," Nusron insisted, as quoted by kompas.com.
The ministry's Public Relations Bureau head Harison Mocodompis said that the fire affected only a small part of the administrative office in the bureau, causing damage to about 20 percent of the total area.
“If there is speculation as to whether the fire is related to the sea fence cases or that this small room keeps data and files related those case or other cases, I assure you that there were none in that room,” he said in a statement on Monday, as quoted by kontan.co.id.
Nusron said the fire broke out in the Public Relations Bureau on the ground floor around 11 p.m. Security officers first tried to contain it with fire extinguishers, but it spread quickly due to piles of archival paper on the tables.
Firefighters began operations at 11:18 p.m. and managed to contain the fire by 11:45 p.m., before proceeding to cool down the area and clear smoke from the building.
While there were no casualties, the Jakarta Fire and Rescue Agency estimates the total damage to amount to around Rp 448.6 million (US$27,426). The damage was mostly to office equipment and electronics in the office.
The National Police's Forensic Laboratory Center (Puslabfor) chief Brig. Gen. Sudjarwoko said an investigation was still underway to determine the exact starting point and cause of the fire.
The Puslabfor team has collected evidence such as ashes and electrical cables for further examination.
"We have collected several pieces of evidence in the form of ash and cinders. Later, we will carry out a more in-depth examination using scientific investigation methods at the forensic laboratory," Sudjarwoko said.
Acting Jakarta Fire and Rescue Agency head Satriadi suspected that the fire was caused by a short circuit in the air conditioning unit in the ministry's public relations office.
However, Nusron suggested that the fire may have started in a computer left on by a ministry employee.
