City still ignoring victims of forced evictions

City still ignoring victims of forced evictions

JP/A.Nara Krisna

JAKARTA: Lasimun, 51, stood before the remains of a slum on
the banks of Penjaringan canal in North Jakarta, where he had
lived for the past 15 years before officers of the public order
agency burnt down his and hundreds of other squatters' houses in
the area.

Just like his neighbors, he and his family of four have no
choice but to live in a temporary hut measuring 1.5 by 1.5 meters
with no electricity or fresh water. Residents were forced to use
scraps to erect their new dwellings.

Of the 15,000 people living in the area prior to the forced
evictions, around 1,500 remain, saying they have nothing left
following the public order agency's operation. The others have
either returned to their hometowns or moved to other nearby
slums.

As the new year approaches, they hope the city administration
will address their problem. But there has been no indication yet
that it will fulfill their demands for adequate compensation and
relocation to more favorable sites.

As a result of the poor conditions in the area, many residents
have been suffering from skin diseases and children have been
unable to continue their schooling. Worse still, they are
currently also having to cope with flood tides and the bad
weather that has accompanied the rainy season.

On Nov. 20, the administration signed an agreement with non-
governmental organizations and the National Commission for Human
Rights (Komnas HAM) which visited the area over the weekend, to
halt evictions for 100 days from the date of the signing.

However, the administration has violated the agreement, saying
it needed to enforce the law and impose public order. Its actions
have been widely criticized by the public as the administration
failed to provide the victims with compensation and new
residential sites.