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Residents protest against barracks project

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Apriadi Gunawan – Hundreds of residents of Sari Rejo subdistrict in Medan, North Sumatra, blocked an access road to the Soewondo Airbase in Medan on Wednesday in protest against the Air Force's claim to 260 hectares of disputed land, on which it intends to build a barracks.

The protest led to traffic congestion in the area, police deployed to the site failing to persuade the protesters to open the blockade on Jl. Polonia.

The protest came after the Air Force put up a banner announcing the planned development of housing for soldiers on the land. The banner also said that the program was conducted in cooperation with the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry and the Defense Ministry.

The residents protested the planned development because the land is still the subject of a legal dispute between the Air Force and local people; a Supreme Court ruling is pending. "Since when does the land belong to the Air Force? Where is the ruling? This is our land," Nuraisyah Nasution, one of the protesters, said on Wednesday.

She said the residents could not accept the planned development of the barracks on land they were currently occupying. She said the land belonged to the residents and that the Air Force had no right to develop a barracks there. "We have been living here since 1948. We have the ownership documents," Nuraisyah said.

Sari Rejo Community Forum (Formas) chair Moses Sihotang said that the Air Force had been gradually attempting to claim the 60 hectares of land through various means including intimidation. Providing an example of the intimidation, Moses said that the Air Force had burned down a public post in the Central Business District (CBD) of Polonia.

"We are used to intimidation. We will continue fighting until no matter when because the land belongs to the people," Moses said on the sidelines of the protest, adding that some 36,000 people or 5,600 families were living on the land.

Soewondo Airbase spokesman Maj. Jhony Tarigan denied that the Air Force had been intimidating the people to take control of the land. He also said that his side did not consider the protest a problem and that it was something normal.

He added that the planned development of the barracks would be continued despite the protest because it was for the sake of the state defense. "The barracks will be developed by the state for Air Force soldiers. It is built using state funds and is a state asset," Jhony told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The dispute between the people of Sari Rejo and the Air Force has been going on for years with no sign of resolution. Both claim to be the legitimate owner of the land, with the Supreme Court set to decide which party is in the right.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/08/04/residents-protest-against-barracks-project.html.