SGU rector Filiana Santoso said in a press conference Monday that after the developer erected concrete blocks to block the access to campus on Sunday, SGU management had rented a shop house in Gading Serpong about 15 km from the campus to continue education activities. Currently the university is on break until February but some minor activities, such as thesis consultation, are still ongoing.

She added that for the second semester, the management would rent a bigger space before finally moving into a permanent location. The university has approximately 1,250 students.

"We established a team to look for the land in February, and we found a location not far from the current campus," she said at a press conference in Jakarta on Monday.

The campus has 3.3 hectares of land under a lease agreement between the university and Sinar Mas Land's PT Bumi Serpong Damai  (BSD), the landlord. Corporate lawyer Reno Hajar said SGU violated the land lease agreement as the university has yet to pay lease fees from when they moved in to EduTown in 2010.

He added, in a statement made available on Monday, BSD had the right to terminate the lease. The developer has warned the university to pay but to no avail, and therefore it had to block access to campus. 

The land dispute case is ongoing at the Tangerang District Court, but Reno argued that the blockades were built on land under BSD’s name, not on the disputed land. The developer also allowed faculty members to enter the campus to take their personal belongings.

"Everybody was allowed to take their personal belongings," he said in a press statement.

SGU communications director Christie Kanter said that the lease agreement began as Sinar Mas group advertised 10 hectares of land to the university. At that time, the campus was still located on the German Centre, also in BSD.

She said campus development was divided into two phases and per their agreement, BSD would build the buildings. The first phase consisted of three buildings— a faculty building, a multi purpose building and a football field. This phase had been completed by BSD and the structures were in use by the university.

Christie said that the second phase consisted of a management building and an auditorium that had yet to be built. She argued that in the initial memorandum of understanding (MoU), the university would pay for the land when all the buildings were finished.

"We assumed that the development was still incomplete with two buildings left, and they [Sinar Mas Land] only sent a bill last year," she said.

Christie added that according to the MoU, the university had the right to pay for the land at the initial 2010 price of Rp 1 million (US$74.60) per square meter, however the developer wanted them to pay the updated price, which according to SGU was far more expensive. Both of the parties have attempted to negotiate and revise the initial MoU but have failed, then the developer brought the case to court in June.

SGU legal team said that the university had sued the developer back based on the obligation to finish the last two buildings. The court has yet to decide the status of the land and the university still has the right to use the land.

"The court also asked both parties to respect the legal process," one of the legal team members said.

An SGU student, Olive, said in the SGU press conference that the students’ right to study in peace was disturbed when the blockades were put in place by BSD as they had to leave communication devices at the gate, filling out a form and undergoing a security check from the guards to enter campus.

"We demand our rights as students to continue the education process," Olive, the head of the Student Executive Board, said. (evi)

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