(3/29/2004)
The residents of the traditional Bali village of Tuban, south of Kuta, are expressing their growing dissatisfaction with the Government and Airport Authorities, threatening to stage a "sit-in" demonstration if their dispute over the land covering a traditional cemetery are not soon resolved.
At dispute is a section of land measuring between 8,000 and 9,000 square meters encompassing the cemetery and Pura Dalem of the Tuban community but now utilized by the airport authority. Villages claim that the community land was incorrectly included in a privately-held land certificate of a larger tract of land transferred to the airport in 1991. Following discovery of the error, villages entered into negotiations with the airport authority resulting in a 1996 agreement to provide replacement land outside the airport for use in burials, cremations and a new Pura Dalem.
Claiming that the deed for the new land promised in the exchange has yet to materialize 8 years after the initial negotiations, village leaders have recently renewed their demands for action from the Airport Authority Managements and the relevant government departments.
As reported in the local press, the angry villagers are now threatening to stage a "sit-in" protest on the contested land, potentially disrupting the airport's operations, if the promised land certificate for the new parcel of land is not soon issued.
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