Burned out residents seek refuge at City Council

JAKARTA (JP): Residents of Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, yesterday sought refuge in the City Council building, two days after their homes and tents were burned down by city administration officials.

"We are asking to stay here only temporarily," Rochani, the spokeswoman for the 75 delegates, told M.U. Fatommy Asaari, the councilor from the land affairs commission who received them.

Fatommy said the request was impossible, as the lobby was scheduled to be used in the afternoon for mass prayers in honor of the late first lady.

The residents told the councilor that public order officials on Thursday poured gasoline along Jl. Agung Karya VI in order to burn down the makeshift homes and shanties of 74 families on the street.

"We didn't even have time to collect our things, not even our clothes. Uniforms and school books were also burned," a resident of the Sunter Agung subdistrict said.

"We asked the officers to show us written instructions saying that they could burn our homes down," Rochani said in tears, adding that the officials produced nothing.

The residents, most of whom are vendors, bicycle-taxi drivers and scavengers, could only stand there and watch their homes go up in smoke, she said.

The original homes of the residents were destroyed in April upon an order from the mayoralty after the residents refused to tear down their own homes. When the residents attempted to stop the demolition they were beaten down by officials, a resident said yesterday.

The demolition was reported to the council but their complaints largely went unnoticed. The mayoralty said that the buildings were illegal and that the residents shouldn't have been there in the first place, much less ask for compensation.

Most of the residents have been living in makeshift tents though some have rebuilt their homes.

"Many of the children have not gone to school since the demolition three weeks ago," Rochani said.

The residents said yesterday they had been told that the state land they occupied was to be used for a water pipeline project by the city-owned water company, PDAM Jaya, and for a green area being set up by a private automobile company.

However, the residents said that in 1983 they paid local military officers up to Rp 2 million (US$853.61) per plot, depending on the size.

The houses built in the swamp area measured between 54 and 100 square meters and were constructed from plywood or cement.

Fatommy assured the delegates that his commission would check into the matter.

After making a phone call to PDAM Jaya, Fatommy said, "A director at the water company said that PDAM intends to give compensation. The amount, however, has not been determined."

Fatommy added that the commission will also check with the management of the automobile company. (anr)