'Becak' drivers win over Sutiyoso
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Central Jakarta District Court ruled in favor of dozens of becak (pedicab) drivers and street vendors on Thursday in their suit against the City Administration, Jakarta Police and the Jakarta Military Command for arbitrary evictions.
Moments after presiding judge I Nengah Suriada read the verdict, the courtroom erupted into an effusive scene with hundreds of evicted people rising to their feet, applauding and yelling out "Hidup hakim!", or "Long live the judges."
The court said that Governor Sutiyoso, Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara, and Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Bibit Waluyo, had acted unlawfully by evicting pedicab drivers, car washers, vendors, and street singers two years ago.
"The eviction, performed without the presentation of proper documentation, was illegal," declared Suriada, who was flanked by his by colleagues, judge Kornel Sianturi and Iskandar Tjakke.
"Stop evicting poor people without the proper legal procedures," he scolded, addressing the defendants.
The court, however, did not order the accused to pay compensation, because the plaintiffs did not request it.
"If the plaintiffs wish to be compensated, they can file another lawsuit," Suriada said.
The class action suit was filed in October of last year by eight eviction victims, who acted as ghost lawyers. The legal representatives consisted of 57 people, who claimed to represent 15,000 victims of eviction across the city.
The administration, backed by the police and the military conducted forcible, sometimes violent, mass evictions of the poor in a number of instances last year.
One civilian guard was killed in a riot that broke out in August, when officers conducted a raid against pedicabs in the Roxy and nearby Grogol area in West Jakarta.
"We're happy with the verdict. Compensation is not a big deal for us. The most important thing is that the authority has to end illegal eviction against the poor," said Nasro Haris, a becak driver who acted as a ghost lawyer.
The defense attorneys declined to comment.
Thursday's verdict was not the first such victory for plaintiffs in civil litigation against government bodies.
In January, the same court found the Central Jakarta municipality and the state-owned railway company PT KAI guilty of evicting slum residents from their homes under a railway bridge in an "unprofessional" way.
That lawsuit was filed by 43 slum residents representing 300 families in Karang Anyar.
The panel of judges, presided over by Judge Andi Samsan Nganro, ordered the defendants to pay Rp 30 million in material losses, and Rp 20.5 million for non-material compensation.
Then last October, another civil suit in the same court ruled against state-run oil company Pertamina for arbitrarily raising its prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
The panel of judges, presided by Judge Ali Akmal Haky, found that Pertamina and its government-appointed Board of Commissioners acted unlawfully by increasing the price without announcing the move to consumers first.