Evi Mariani
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
The owners of hundreds of shanty homes near a reservoir in East
\nJakarta have been given until Sunday or Monday to dismantle their
\nhomes before city officials tear them down.<\/p>\n
Residents meanwhile voiced disillusion with their favorite
\npolitical party in a situation becoming all too familiar across
\nthe city.<\/p>\n
The East Jakarta municipality delayed the planned demolition
\nof about 400 houses around Pulomas reservoir in Kayuputih
\ndistrict, as only about 160 homes had been dismantled on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
\"If by Sunday or Monday the houses have not been dismantled,
\nwe will demolish them ourselves,\" Yusmin D., the head of city
\ninfrastructure at East Jakarta's Public Order Agency, said
\nThursday on the site.<\/p>\n
The municipality has planned to clear the area since October,
\nclaiming that it wanted to clean it to ease flooding. However,
\nthe residents around Pulomas reservoir, also called Ria-rio
\nreservoir, resisted and rejected the offer of compensation.<\/p>\n
The neighborhood includes vendors, bus drivers, housewives,
\nsex workers and the notorious Kapak Merah (Red Axe) robbery gang
\nthat targets motorists. Scores of residents support the
\nIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).<\/p>\n
On Thursday, while residents dismantled their homes, children
\nand housewives walked to and fro carrying planks, television sets
\nand mattresses. Several red PDI Perjuangan flags were fluttering
\nin the breeze, but some residents said they would likely not vote
\nin the next elections.<\/p>\n
\"I will be a golput (nonvoter),\" said one resident, who
\nidentified himself only as Silalahi. \"We were the people who made
\nit possible for PDI Perjuangan to win in this area in the last
\nelections. But now that we are being evicted, we ask what the
\nparty has done for us? Nothing.\"<\/p>\n
Residents said that previously a number of party members
\napproached them and told them not to give up their homes easily.
\nSaying they sensed that the party supported them, the residents
\nstaunchly resisted the eviction.<\/p>\n
However, at the time of eviction the above party members were
\nnowhere to be seen. Residents living on the banks of the
\nreservoir later accepted Rp 300,000 (US$35) in compensation for
\neach house, and dismantled their homes.<\/p>\n
However, owners of about 200 houses across the bank looked
\nshocked on Thursday when they heard from officials that their
\nhomes would also be targeted this week.<\/p>\n
\"I thought the land across the bank belonged to the Adam Malik
\nFoundation, and that we would therefore not be evicted unless the
\nfoundation told us to go,\" said Edi WS, referring to a foundation
\nset up by the family of a late vice president.<\/p>\n
However, the municipality claims the land belongs to the city,
\nand the above official Yusmin said all illegal buildings built
\nwithin 30 meters of the reservoir's banks will be demolished.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/evi-mariani-1447899208",
"image": ""
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