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.