400 squarters evicted for ninth time in 8 months

400 squarters evicted for ninth time in 8 months

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

About 400 squatters living along the West Flood Canal in Teluk
Gong, Penjaringan district, North Jakarta were evicted for the
ninth time on Thursday morning despite protests from the
residents.

Some 200 public order officers of the Penjaringan District
office, supported by armed police and military personnel, arrived
at about 10 a.m. They quickly asked the occupants, mostly women,
to get out of their homes before demolishing the shanties.

They later burned what was left of the homes and within two
hours, everything was reduced to ashes, according to Samini, one
of the squatters.

Samini, who sells snacks and coconut drinks in front of her
shack, complained that all of her equipment for her small
business, including a stove and a container which she used to
keep the coconut drink in were also destroyed in the operation.

Unlike Samini, most of the women in the squatter community
work as maids for families at nearby file Pantai Indah Kapuk
housing complex. Their husbands, mostly work as temporary
construction workers, street vendors or fishermen.

Samini, who had received support from the Network to Combat
Forced Eviction, said the people refused to leave the area unless
the administration provided them with compensation or a proper
place to live.

Soon after the officers left the area, the residents began to
rebuild their makeshift houses.

The first time the administration demolished their shanties
was in October last year. Since then, the administration has
tried to drive them away, but the residents refused to leave. The
Public Order Office claims the squatters are responsible for
worsening floods in the area.

Data issued by the Network revealed that the government
conducted 45 forced evictions, which had caused approximately
35,000 people to lose their homes, last year.