Apartment living is a must now: Surjadi

Apartment living is a must now: Surjadi

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said that living in
apartments in a big city like Jakarta is not a question of
culture as some people think, but more a question of conditions.

Speaking during an inspection visit to Kenari, Central
Jakarta, over the weekend Surjadi said that it was the condition
of overpopulation and lack of land for new housing facilities in
the city which forced inhabitants to resort to staying in
apartments.

Jakarta, which occupies an area of 650 square kilometers, has
a 8.5 million population.

Surjadi said he could understand if there were some people who
were reluctant to live in apartments, on the grounds that it is a
foreign culture.

"They said they were not accustomed to it, but they should
understand that it is not an issue of foreign culture," Surjadi
said.

New York residents, Surjadi said as an example, were willing
to live in apartments not because it is their culture but they
had no other option except to stay there because of the city's
overpopulation.

In response to relocation in some areas of the city which
usually affected low-income bracket people in slum areas, such as
squatters, Surjadi said that the programs were either dictated by
the slum improvement projects or the development of an area by
private companies.

The programs, said Surjadi, are not at all meant to rid the
city of squatters who live in shanties, or poor people.

Many Jakartans, especially lower-income people who are
accustomed to living in one-story homes, have been refusing to
move to apartments for various reasons despite repeated appeals
from city officials. Residents of a big city like Jakarta must
gradually accept the fact that they will eventually have to live
in apartments, according to city officials.

"Sooner or later, if you want to continue staying here, you
all must be willing to stay in apartments," Surjadi said.

Those who are reluctant to live in apartments, according to
Surjadi, must go back to hometowns or be prepared to be
transmigrated to resettlement areas outside Java. (arf)