Ciledug residents outraged by high voltage cables
JAKARTA (JP): Eighty people representing 120 residents from the Ciledug Indah housing estate in Tangerang went to the office of the National Commission on Human Rights yesterday morning to complain about the bad effects of high voltage electrical cables suspended over their housing complex.
Charles Christofel, spokesman of the residents, told commission members Brig. Gen (Ret) Roekmini K. Astoeti and Djoko Soegianto that the residents of Ciledug Indah have suffered physically since the state-owned electricity company (PLN) activated, on Nov. 25 the high voltage cables.
"Whenever we are at home we always have headaches, feel nauseous, have irregular heart beats and itchy skin. A test pen or fluorescent lamp can turn on by itself, without being connected to an electrical plug, if we point it to the sky," Charles said.
He said the residents have filed many complaints with the related governmental offices and legislative bodies but so far there has been no action taken.
He said the residents have visited the House of Representatives, PLN headquarters, the Tangerang administration, the ministry of home affairs, the attorney general's office, the vice president's office, the president's office Bina Graha and the ruling party Golkar's office.
Charles said the PLN has always stated that residents in the housing complex located under the high-voltage cables are not in danger, but that PLN has never checked on the physical reactions that are happening to the residents.
"The strong electromagnetic radiation is even dangerous for pregnant women and can make people suffer from anemia," Charles said, quoting Dr. Moch. Taufik Hidayat, a medical practitioner.
Charles said that the Ciledug Indah area suffers from floods every rainy season and this has made the residents concerned that the electrical current from the high-voltage cables might kill them.
Permits
During the one-hour meeting with the Human Rights commission Charles said the residents have lived in Ciledug Indah since 1987, which was when they bought the houses from PT Duta Megah Perdana, a real estate developer, while PLN started the high- voltage cable tower project in 1990.
West Java Deputy Governor Aboeng Koesman issued the permit for PT Duta Megah Perdana to build a housing estate on a 20-hectare plot of land in Tangerang, in April 1985. The permit was based on the March 27, 1985 recommendation of Tangerang Regent Tadjus Sobirin.
"Our housing location is in line with the Tangerang city plan, but what confuses us is that two permits, which have opposite purposes, had been issued by the same institution," Charles said.
The present Tangerang Regent H. Saifullah Abdulrachman told Kompas daily yesterday that the residents of Ciledug should move to other places, but then another problem arises; "Who is going to pay for the costs?," Charles said.
Charles told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that a PLN official has informed them that PLN will not give any compensation to the residents because the project is for public purposes.
Assistant of the Tangerang Regent for public administration affairs, H. Ismet Iskandar, who was the former Ciledug District chief when the permit was issued, said that the PLN high-voltage cable towers had already been installed before PT Duta Megah Perdana started its construction of Ciledug Indah.
The two members of the National Commission on Human Rights, Joko Sugianto and Roekmini K. Astoeti, who listened to the residents' grievances, succeeded in calming them by saying that the commission will try to help settle the problem.
"You all have firm documentation, such as building permits, which are strong enough to help seek a satisfactory settlement," Joko said.
Charles insisted, however, that they will go to the U.S. Embassy if the human rights commission fails to help them. "If the National Commission on Human Rights fails to help us then we to go to the U.S. embassy to complain about the violation of our rights," he said, without elaborating further concerning this decision. (mas)