City authorities fail to address poverty issue

City authorities fail to address poverty issue

Benget Simbolon Tnb., The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The year 2002 has ended. But as in previous years, there have
been no encouraging moves on the part of the city administration
to tackle the problem of poverty.

Almost all news stories that emerged on the administration's
poverty policies were concerned with negative measures that hurt
poor people. Evictions of squatters, street vendors and other
poor people whose economic situation forces them to squat on
vacant land or to do business in inappropriate or forbidden
places (facilitated by the bribing of local officials), dominated
the city's measures in dealing with the poor.

Many of them, like in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, have been
evicted several times. But since they have no money to resettle
in other places and the city administration fails to provide
compensation for the loss of their simple homes, they keep coming
back after the forcible evictions.

Others, like those in Pulongandang, Kelapa Gading, North
Jakarta, had been residing on the same land for decades before
the city administration forcibly evicted them.

The city public order agency maintained that they were
squatters. But these "squatters" have access to electricity,
piped water, telephones and regularly pay taxes to the city
administration.

There were, however, some moves made to deal with the problem
of poverty. The city administration, for example, distributed
some Rp 250 million to each subdistrict under the Subdistrict
Social Empowerment Program (PPMK), which is designed to alleviate
urban poverty. But most of the funds allocated to the city's 167
subdistricts ended up being embezzled. Reportedly, some
subdistrict officials even used the money illegally to build or
renovate their houses.

Throughout last year, many people, including those from non-
governmental organizations, have been protesting against the
city's poverty policies. But city officials still appear to base
their decision-making on the idea that all poor people in Jakarta
are illegally residing here, and always end up breaking the law.

And to make matters worse, the City Council's 84 members have
consistently failed to side with the poor, strengthening the
impression that the councillors are the representatives of those
in power rather than the general public.

This has caused many people and non-governmental
organizations, including the Urban Poor Consortium under the
leadership of Wardah Hafidz and the Jakarta Residents Forum under
the leadership of Azas Tigor Nainggolan, to stage a number of
protests. On one occasion, they mocked the councillors by
bringing along 11 ducks sporting ties on their necks.

But both the city officials and councillors have never changed
their stances. And despite the fact that they are real in
everyday life, the problems of poverty have never been properly
tackled.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistic (BPS), of the
total 8.2 million people living in the city, some 100,000 of them
are poor.

And according to the National Family Planning Board (BKKBN),
of a total 1,429,000 families in the city, some 114,290 are poor.

But according to the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), between 30
and 40 percent of all Jakarta residents are poor.

We do not know why there are discrepancies in the figures. But
they could be the results of different definitions of what is
absolute poverty and relative poverty.

But whatever the true figures, the poor really exist in the
city. And their numbers have dramatically increased since the
economic crisis in 1997 as many people have lost their jobs. Most
of them are migrants from cities in West, Central and East Java.
And the others come from cities outside Java.

It is only natural that they left their hometowns as they saw
no chance of improving their lives there. And they came to
Jakarta as they considered it a "promised land" where they truly
expected they could improve their lives.

As a result, the number of the urban poor tends to increase as
new migrants keep coming to Jakarta. As they have no skills
through which they can secure proper jobs, they have to rely on
the informal sector, which has been mushrooming since the
economic crisis.

But despite all this, they still have the right to come and
live in Jakarta. The city administration cannot deny their
existence and their rights. It has to start addressing their
problems properly. Otherwise, it risks increasing other problems,
particularly the problems of crime and environmental degradation
in the nation's capital.