Residents stop traffic with all day blockade

9/6/2007

TANGERANG : A group of around 200 protesters blockaded the Pondok Pinang-Serpong turnpike all day Thursday to demand long-delayed land compensation from toll road operator PT Jasa Marga.

The protesters erected a tent and erected bamboo poles and banners on a section of the toll road in Ulujami, Tangerang.

Unlike in many rowdier rallies, the protesters chose to forgo chants and speeches in favor of sit-down readings of the Koran.

The rally, which started at around 10:00 a.m., caused a three-kilometer-long traffic jam on the Bintaro-Pondok Pinang side of the road, with cars forced to turn around and use the Bintaro main road.

Protesters still occupied the section of toll road as of 8:00 p.m. Thursday night.

The Thursday rally was organized by the family of H. Isa bin Baman, who owned a Rp 3 billion part of the 1,700 square meters of land under dispute. The land was bought by PT Jasa Marga for the turnpike project in 2000 but none of the evicted residents have so far received compensation from the state-owned company.