Jakarta. The government on Thursday took control of the Sultan Hotel and Residence complex in Central Jakarta, ending a decades-long dispute with the family of former Pertamina chief Ibnu Sutowo over one of the capital’s most valuable pieces of real estate.
The court-ordered repossession covers the 13.7-hectare property in Jakarta’s upscale Senayan district, including the hotel’s more than 1,000 rooms and roughly 250 luxury apartment units developed by hotel operator Indobuildco.
Court bailiffs, backed by more than 3,000 police and military personnel, carried out the eviction after repeated efforts to secure a voluntary handover failed. The operation faced resistance from hundreds of demonstrators supporting the hotel operator, while the hotel continued to accommodate guests despite a court ruling issued in late 2025 ordering the property to be vacated.
Authorities had already marked parts of the complex with signs identifying it as state property since 2023.
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“If the management refuses to vacate the premises voluntarily, the eviction will be carried out forcibly,” court registrar Akhyar Parmika said before the operation began.
Clashes erupted when protesters threw rocks, wooden objects, and other projectiles at security personnel. Police detained 119 people for questioning, while 29 people — including 27 security officers — were injured.
Deputy State Secretary Bambang Eko Suhariyanto said the land was originally acquired by the government in 1959 as part of preparations for the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta.
“For roughly 50 years, the former Sultan Hotel assets were controlled by Indobuildco. Now that they have returned to state ownership, they will be used for the benefit of the wider community,” Bambang said.
The dispute dates back to 1971, when the Jakarta administration asked state-owned oil company Pertamina to develop a hotel on the site under a 30-year land-use concession. The project was carried out by Indobuildco, a company owned by the family of Ibnu Sutowo, who was then Pertamina’s president director. The hotel initially opened in partnership with Hilton Hotels International.
The concession was extended for another 20 years in 2002. However, when it expired in 2023, the government refused to renew the building-use rights and demanded the return of the property. Indobuildco, now led by Ibnu Sutowo’s son, Pontjo Sutowo, challenged the move in court but ultimately lost.
Indobuildco has maintained that discrepancies in land records and its longstanding use of the property as collateral for international bank financing support its claim to the site.
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