Jakarta – Since Monday June 29, thousands of traders in the village of Kerang Tengah, in the sub-district of Ciledung, Tangerang, have occupied nine hectors of land owned by PT Bogasari. The same thing was done by thousands of traders from North Jakarta on land owned by PT Subentra in the village of Harjamukti Cimanggis in Bogor, West Java. The authorities at the location could do little and were only seen watching at the action at a distance as land owned by the Suharto family was staked out.

A number of traders in Ciledung said that they had staked out the land ownd by Bogasari because they had been under great [economic] pressure since their place of trading at Plaza Ciledug was burn down last May 14 and 15. The Tangerang local government had moved the traders to the Peninggilan village. But because its location was not good for trading, they asked to be allowed to return. They were annoyed because the government had still not responded to their request. As a result, the traders staked out PT Bogasari's land.

The incident at PT Subentra began after the arrival of thousands of traders in busses, taxis and private vehicles from North Jakarta. A number of them, who had been sacked without notice, began staking out land straight away. A conflict almost broke out between the traders and locals because part of the land was owned by business tycoon Sudwikatmono which had also been staked out by local people.

Recently, land in a number of areas believed to be owned by the family and relatives of Suharto have seized by the masses. Even scores of horses from the Tapos ranch [owned by Suharto] were sized by the masses until a Kopassus unit arrived to guard the area.

[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski]