Residents reject transportation money<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Most slum dwellers in North Kedoya and Kembangan
\nsubdistricts in West Jakarta have rejected the Rp 7,500 (US$3.28)
\noffered to them by the West Jakarta mayoralty as a transportation
\nfee for them to leave the areas.<\/p>\n
\"How could we survive with only Rp 250,000 ($109), with no
\nshelter?,\" Masa Tarigan, one of the residents affected, asked
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
About 900 shanties in the northern Kedoya and Kembangan areas
\nwere demolished earlier this month as part of the government's
\nClean River Program.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the dispossessed residents had protested against the
\nadministration's failure to provide them with warning about the
\ndemolitions.<\/p>\n
A lawsuit was against the West Jakarta mayoralty office by 110
\nresidents through the State Administrative Court early this week.
\nThe residents are being represented by the Jakarta Legal Aid
\nInstitute in the case.<\/p>\n
Amid ongoing protests staged by the homeless residents at the
\nHouse of Representatives, the West Jakarta mayoralty announced
\nearly last week that it would provide each of the dispossessed
\nresidents with Rp 7,500 toward their transportation costs to
\ntheir hometowns.<\/p>\n
The mayoralty has also suggested that the homeless residents
\njoin a transmigration program to Indonesia's outer islands.<\/p>\n
\"We refuse both the money and the transmigration program
\nbecause we deserve to get fair compensation for our land,\" said
\nTarigan, who is among the residents bringing the lawsuit against
\nthe mayoralty.<\/p>\n
West Jakarta Mayoralty Secretary Solichin Djayadikusumah told
\nThe Jakarta Post yesterday that some of the displaced people had
\nalready accepted the transportation money.<\/p>\n
Of the 900 families living in the bulldozed areas, only
\nbetween 30 percent and 40 percent had owned the shanty houses,
\nSolichin said. The rest were merely tenants and did not deserve
\nany compensation, he added.<\/p>\n
Out of 400 house owners, about 200 had received the Rp 7,500,
\nSolichin said.<\/p>\n
\"They rest might have left the area for lack of reason to
\nclaim compensation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
But Tarigan told the Post that none of the 111 house owners
\nwho have filed the lawsuit have received the money. He said he
\ndid not know whether other people had.<\/p>\n
\"As far a I know, the residents will never accept the payment
\nbecause such an amount is nothing compared with our sufferings,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
A member of the National Commission on Human Rights, Roekmini
\nKoesoemo Astoeti, said yesterday that about 80 families of the
\nKembangan area, located on the opposite side of the river from
\nKedoya, had also refused to accept the transportation money.<\/p>\n
\"They want to discuss compensation with the authorities
\nbecause they had lived there for more than 15 years,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The residents of both districts say they bought the land
\nlegally, adding that they have paid property tax on it. (03)<\/p>",
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