Kembangan demolitions protested<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Residents of Kembangan, West Jakarta, complained
\nto the Human Rights Commission yesterday over what they say was
\nthe arbitrary demolition of their homes by the city
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
Fifteen people, representing the owners of 60 houses torn down
\nby the administration last Saturday, told the Commission that
\nthey had not yet received any warning prior to the demolition.
\nThey said that, on the contrary, they had received assurances
\nthat their homes would be spared.<\/p>\n
\"We had been told before that our houses would not be pulled
\ndown,\" residents' spokesman Fauzi said.<\/p>\n
The demolished houses had been located on a 4,000-square-meter
\npiece of land adjacent to the bank of the Angke River. The 60
\nhouses in question were among 500 shanties demolished by the
\nauthorities last Saturday.<\/p>\n
The demolitions began on Nov. 1 in North Kedoya. From that
\ntime onward, the Kembangan families had wondered whether their
\nhomes had also been selected for destruction, the residents said.<\/p>\n
\"The authorities said 'no',\" said Fauzi.<\/p>\n
The residents said they had subsequently received further
\nconfirmation from authorities that their land was not part of the
\nclean river program.<\/p>\n
\"But only two hours after the demolition of North Kedoya, two
\nbulldozers made their way across the river to our area and
\nstarted to demolish our houses,\" Fauzi said.<\/p>\n
Like their fellow-residents in North Kedoya, who have since
\nbeen living in makeshift tents erected in the neighboring Green
\nGarden luxury housing estate, the Kembangan residents are now
\nalso living in tents wherever they can find space to put them up.<\/p>\n
The residents said yesterday that they bought the land on
\nwhich their houses had stood from a local land owner in 1983.<\/p>\n
Commission member Roekmini Koesoema Astoeti said she would
\nclarify the status of the land and help the residents discuss the
\ncompensation demanded with the authorities. (03)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kembangan-demolitions-protested-1447893297",
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