Benhil residents prefer going back to provinces

JAKARTA (JP): Residents of Bendungan Hilir, Central Jakarta, said they would prefer to receive compensation and move to other areas rather than live in low-cost apartments which are to be built on the old fire site by the city administration.

"We're culturally not prepared to live in apartments where we have to pay for almost everything, such as gas, water and electricity. We would prefer to go back to our villages or move to suburban areas," said Sutaryo, the head of the residents' delegation in negotiation with the government.

Sutaryo and two others representing the people told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that the residents, mostly immigrants from Central and East Java, support a government plan to construct apartments in the area which was destroyed by fire on Sept. 9.

"The government could build and sell the apartments to other people. But most of us prefer to live outside the area," Sutaryo added, referring to 465 families living in the 15,000 square- meter area.

The government has banned the residents from rebuilding new houses in the area because it plans to construct low cost apartments there.

On Monday morning the city administration deployed dozens of personnel, including officials from the City Law and Order Bureau and police and military members, to appropriate the site because some of the area residents had received compensation.

More than 1,000 occupants who protested eviction refused to leave the area and clashed with officials led by Central Jakarta Deputy Mayor Mora Tua Simamora, forcing the mayoralty administration to postpone the evictions for an indefinite period. The officials demolished some of the semi-permanent buildings there.

Several people, including members of a civil defense corps, were injured in the clash.

State land

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja, however, said on Tuesday that the administration will not drop the plan just because of the scuffle and said the goal of the project is to provide residents with proper housing.

The city administration, Surjadi said, is quite humane in the evictions because it has agreed to provide a Rp 400,000 (US$190) allowance per displaced family to rent temporary housing pending the completion of the apartments.

"The city administration could just tell them to leave because the land belongs to the government. On the contrary, the government is offering them enough money to rent temporarily," he added.

The Post observed yesterday that a number of area residents still stay in half-destroyed and semi-permanent houses, positioning broad plastic sheets to replace roofs destroyed by the fire.

Ruslan Maun, another resident representative, said that the area residents asked for compensation of Rp 1 million per square meter.

"Why do they use force to move residents? We will leave the area if given reasonable compensation ," Ruslan said.

Newspaper reports said that the land clearing committee offered the fire victims compensation of Rp 235,000 ($107) per square meter for the land.

Simamora said on Tuesday that 300 of the 465 families living on the site had already accepted the money, a statement denied by Ruslan.

"Those who claim to be residents are tenants who live here on a temporary basis," he said. (09)