Ciledug residents outraged by high voltage cables

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)