Considered Damaged Medan Merdeka Square, Residents Sued Bobby Nasution

A group of people from the Medan-North Sumatra Civil Society Coalition (KMS) filed a citizen lawsuit against Medan Mayor Bobby Nasution. 

They asked for the Merdeka Square revitalization policy to be stopped, because they were considered to have damaged cultural heritage. 

KMS's lawyer, Redyanto Sidi, believes that so far the revitalization has only been used as an excuse for the Medan City Government (Pemkot) in carrying out multi-year construction work. 

One of them is making underground parking lots and commercial areas. 

"There is work on the foundation by punching a hole in Merdeka Square as deep as 6 to 8 meters, as conveyed by the Head of Housing for Residential Areas and Government Buildings of the Perkim Office of Medan City for 2022 the contract is Rp. 91 billion with the work of digging the ground in 6meters for the basement from the plan of around eight meters," said Redyanto in his statement Saturday (8/4/2023). 

According to Redyanto, as an object of cultural heritage, the preservation of Merdeka Square must be maintained according to the mandate of Law Number 11 of 2010 concerning Cultural Conservation and Regional Regulation Number 2 of 2012. 

Moreover, Medan Merdeka Square also functions as a Non-Green Open Space and a Disaster Evacuation Route Area, based on Medan City Regional Regulation No. 01/2022 regarding RTRW. 

"We will see the fate of Merdeka Square today, which has been ravaged by the revitalization. Revitalization is a construction work, that's modernization. I don't think anything was wrong with this, but not Medan Merdeka Square, because it is a cultural heritage object," he said. 

The preservation of the cultural heritage of Merdeka Square in Medan should follow Article 77 paragraph 1, namely reconstructing the cultural heritage by prioritizing the principles of authenticity of materials, workmanship techniques, layout and including using new materials as substitutes for original materials. 

"Because preservation is not only having knowledge and skills, but the most important thing is the importance of a good and correct attitude towards the reconstruction of cultural heritage, not modernizing it, namely changing it by means of adaptation or revitalization, which is currently the condition of Merdeka Square. Medan is concerned about 'ruined'," he said. 

Redyanto also suspects that the revitalization will also change the originality and important values ​​in Merdeka Square in Medan. 

"It is reasonable to suspect (development) in the future will lead to commercialization of business," he said

There were seven demands made by KMH to Bobby Nasution, one of which was asking for the development revitalization project to be stopped. 

If they do not do so, they will file a lawsuit in district court. 

"Regarding this notification, the Medan City Government was given 60 days to respond, then if it is not implemented, the Citizen Lawsuit or Citizen Lawsuit will roll over to the Medan District Court," he concluded. 

The Head of the Medan City Government Housing, Settlement Areas, and Spatial Planning (PKPPR) Office, Endar Sutan Lubis, when confirmed, had not yet provided an answer. 

Meanwhile, the Kadiskominfo of Medan City, Arrahman Pane, will still ask for this lawsuit to the legal field of Pemko Medan. 

"I first coordinated with the legal field," he told Kompas.com, briefly