C. Jakarta vndors to lose property

JAKARTA (JP): Property belonging to some 100 vendors, traders and squatters below a railway bridge in Central Jakarta is scheduled to be demolished today.

The Central Jakarta mayoralty, in cooperation with the state- owned train company, Perumka, is planning to evict the illegal residents from utilizing Perumka's property on 1.5 kilometers of land below the bridge that runs from Jl. Pangeran Jayakarta to Jl. Mangga Dua.

Scavengers and street-side traders were told about the demolition last week, following a similar demolition last Thursday by 200 personnel of squatters' property on other Permuka land.

Eddy Sasongko, a Perumka representative, said that the evicted plot will be enclosed and turned into a garden.

But nearby residents are skeptical about the effectiveness of the demolition, saying squatters play a hide-and-seek game with authorities and have little option but to find housing and earning a living somewhere in the city.

"We realize that we are illegally using other people's land, so we aren't making any fuss about being chased out," Hamid, a food-vendor who has a stall near signs which read: "State property, prohibited to be entered or utilized without permission", said.

Even so there were no indications yesterday that people were preparing to move out. Most residents said they were jittery about their future.

"Slowly but surely we will find our way. We migrants can adapt to changes," Tarman, a native of Subang, West Java said.

According to Tarman, an early settler, the number of food traders has increased significantly in the last three years.

Tarman added illegal settlers were asked to pay a certain amount of money to Perumka's personnel to let them start living and doing business there. He refused to disclose the amount but local thugs ask settlers for Rp 500 a day. (14)