C. Jakarta vndors to lose property

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)