Ancol homes destroyed in public order operation

Ancol homes destroyed in public order operation

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

Some 50 fishing families lost their homes after the North
Jakarta public order office on Thursday demolished their houses,
which were allegedly built without any legal permit.

Not only did the officers destroy all buildings in the fishing
village in East Ancol, but also their working equipment,
Misbahudian Gasma from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute said on
Friday.

"Because of the destruction, they don't have any appropriate
place to live ..," Misbahudian told The Jakarta Post.

The city administration demolished the buildings to make way
for the development of a recreation area with jetski facilities.
The government provided them with an alternative site in Marunda,
but the residents, who had been living in Ancol for decades,
refused to move. They claimed that they had developed the village
without the mayoralty's help.

Currently, the fishermen and their families live in temporary
tents in the area.

The raid started at 6 a.m. on Thursday when public order
officers, supported by the police, attempted to tear the village
down. There was a minor clash between the officers and residents,
who attempted to stop the demolition, according to Misbahudian.

The officers suspended their activities at 10 a.m. but at 1:30
p.m. they continued, using a bulldozer, although activists from
the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), Urban Poor
Consortium and INFID were trying to negotiate with the officers.

All houses and buildings in the village were demolished about
three hours later.

Misbahudian claimed that the residents suffered losses of over
Rp 770 million, while children were unable to attend school and
the fishermen were prevented from going about their work.

According to Misbahudian, the North Jakarta Mayoralty had been
attempting to get rid of the village since 1965. The last time
the authorities tore down the houses, in 1985, a baby was killed,
he said.

Meanwhile, city councillor Binsar Tambunan of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle supported the action conducted by
the city public order office.

"They (the fishermen) are not Jakarta residents. They
illegally occupy the land," Binsar, who is a member of the
council's commission A for administrative and legal affairs,
said.

He called for the evicted people, for the sake of development,
to move to the land in the Marunda area, which had been provided
by the administration.

However, he also urged the public order office to prepare
shelters on the Marunda plot and help the people to move to the
new site.

"It would also be better for the administration to give them
compensation by covering transportation fees to the new site," he
said.