Community-based project benefits slump villagers

Rita A.Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

Once one of the country's most powerful men, a close and loyal aide to the strongman Soeharto, Moerdiono is no ordinary name.

In the neighborhood of Banjar Sari, a poor and densely populated area near the Ubung bus terminal in Denpasar, Moerdiono remains very well remembered to this day, thanks to the public toilet that is named after him: the MCK Moerdiono, which he personally inaugurated.

For more than 10 years, residents bathed, washed and did many other things in the MCK, which stands for mandi (bath), cuci (wash) and kakus (toilet). It didn't take long before the Moerdiono toilet had become run down, smelly and dirty.

MCK Moerdiono is just one of hundreds of ill-conceived community-based projects carried out by the New Order government across Bali, which now lie abandoned and wasted.

"I'd rather take a bath in the river than have to wait for hours to use that dirty toilet," said Ita, a native of Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

Local residents had hoped Moerdono would return to the village to renovate his MCK, but he never came.

Now, after a long wait, the residents of Banjar Sari have a brand new, clean and healthy public toilet, called MCK Jempiring.

"Finally we have a proper bathroom and toilets with clean and running water," said Ita, who has lived in the area for 14 years.

Standing on a 98-square-meter plot of land, rented from local resident I Ketut Nasib, the new MCK has eight bathrooms and toilets equipped with showers.

Beautifully decorated with creamy ceramic tiles, the public toilet is very attractive in appearance, looking a little out of place in the middle of a slum with dilapidated huts and half- brick houses.

Colorful murals on each of the MCK's walls liven up the atmosphere, while a small lotus pond invites everybody in the neighborhood to come in and try out the toilets.

"It's like entering a toilet in a star-rated hotel," exclaimed Anto, a local teenager who will work at the MCK.

Ann Thomas, a program officer with the World Bank's water and sanitation project, praised the project during a visit to Banjar Sari village on Tuesday afternoon.

"It is an impressive sanitation project. This might be one of the best public toilets built as part of a community-based project in Indonesia," said Thomas, who has visited a number of water and sanitation projects across the country.

It is thanks to a community-based project overseen by Bali Fokus and funded by German non-profit organization Bremen Overseas Research Development Association (BORDA), that Banjar Sari village now has a new toilet.

The construction of the public toilet started in April 2003 and was completed just a few days before it was inaugurated by the Denpasar mayor on Aug. 6.

"The construction of MCK Jempiring, including land rental fee, cost about Rp 180 million, paid for with a grant from BORDA. The operation of the public toilet will be fully handled by locals," said Yuyun Ilham, director of Bali Fokus, a local non- governmental organization focusing on community development and environmental issues.

The public toilet is also equipped with a modern waste treatment system. With the Decentralized Waste Water Treatment System, liquid waste from the toilet will be processed to produce methane gas for cooking.

"The methane gas will be enough to be used in three households," Yuyun said.

In practice, each resident using the public toilet has to pay between Rp 300 and Rp 500 per visit.

I Made Yasa, head of Banjar Sari traditional customary village, said the money would be used to cover maintenance costs and the salaries of two workers.

According to Made, about 466 families live in the village, most of them from East Java, Lombok and poorer areas in Bali like Karang Asem, Klungkung and Buleleng.

"They (migrants) came in the early l980s when Bali's economy was booming," Made said.

Historically, Balinese families in Jempiring, Banjar Sari, possessed large plots of lands. As areas adjacent to the Ubung bus terminal grew as one of Denpasar's economic centers, people began arriving in numbers from outside the island.

The flood of migrants changed population patterns in Denpasar, which now has about 500,000 residents.

The arrival of large numbers of migrants opened new business opportunities for locals to rent or sell their properties.

As time passed, the construction of rental houses and rooms grew, violating Denpasar's city master plan. The growth of urban slums like Banjar Sari was inevitable. Denpasar's now has a population density of 3,378 people per square kilometer.

Yuyun said the situation in Banjar Sari village was poor in terms of a lack of proper sanitation facilities, clean water and most, of all, people's awareness of the need for a clean and healthy environment.

"It was not easy to convince the villagers they should have at least one public toilet to bathe in and wash their clothes. We started to approach the locals in June 2002 and finished in Dec. 2002," said Yuyun.

To increase the residents' awareness of hygiene and sense of ownership, Bali Fokus has actively involved the community in the project.

"I frequently said the planned public toilet would be used and owned by the villagers, and therefore they must decide what's best for them.

"Eventually, Bali Fokus will only be providing technical assistance and monitoring," Yudi said.

Made Yasa promised that residents would take care the public toilet. "We are very grateful and hope we can build more facilities to improve the village's condition and to empower our people, the youth especially," Made Yasa said.