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Jakarta turns to legal professional to help with BMW land dispute
The head of the Jakarta legal bureau, Yayan Yuhana, said Denny Indrayana was appointed because of his expertise in administrative law.
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A large excavator digs up soil on the construction site of the BMW Stadium in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta on April 5, 2018. (Antara/Aprillio Akbar)
T
he Jakarta administration has hired a legal professional, former deputy minister Denny Indrayana, in a bid to raise its chances for victory in an appeal of a land dispute it lost over the BMW Stadium in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, with a private company that claims ownership of the land.
The appointment, however, raised a question over the ability of the city’s legal bureau to handle legal disputes.
The head of the Jakarta legal bureau, Yayan Yuhana, said Denny was appointed because of his expertise in administrative law as the case would revolve around the issuing of permits. She said it was not the first time the bureau has hired external attorneys for cases related to disputes over assets.
The bureau being overwhelmed by cases was also partly behind the appointment of Denny, who was a deputy minister of law and human rights under then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Denny was back in the public spotlight after becoming a member of the legal team that lost Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno's challenge of the official 2019 presidential election results in the Constitutional Court.
“Denny was chosen for his expertise in administrative law. We turn to experts because we are handling other cases while our personnel are limited,” she told The Jakarta Post last week, adding that on average the city can take up to 40 land disputes per year to the Jakarta State Administrative High Court (PTTUN).
Denny would be paid based on the scale for a city special staffer, Yayan said, without giving further details.
The secretary of City Council’s commission D overseeing public works and development issues, Pandapotan Sinaga, questioned the decision to hire Denny, saying the appointment of an external lawyer showed that Jakarta's governor doubted his own subordinates.
