Councilors upset at demolition of squatters' houses

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council has expressed disappointment with the Central Jakarta mayoralty's demolition of 40 houses along the banks of the Ciliwung river on Thursday, two days ahead of schedule.

Chairman of the Council's commission for government affairs, M. Aman, said yesterday that, although the deadline set by the mayoralty had been today, the squatters' houses had been demolished on Thursday.

"The council will ask the mayoralty about this matter, since it set the deadline for today."

"The commission has reported the case to the council speaker and an official letter of complaint will be sent to the mayoralty. The mayoralty has disappointed both the City Council and the residents," Aman told reporters.

Hundreds of Pejambon squatters whose houses along the Ciliwung River were torn down by the local authorities on Thursday, visited the city council yesterday to protest against the early demolition.

The residents did not receive any compensation because the land belongs to the government.

Commission secretary Abdoelhamid Notowidagdo said that the Council supports the city administration's program to remove houses from the river's banks, but that the mayoralty should have behaved properly.

Juharto, spokesman for the squatters, said the residents had not been prepared to move out of the area when their houses were bulldozed on Thursday. "The mayoralty had agreed to delay the demolition. But the authorities pulled down our houses while we were visiting the mayoralty to seek clarification about the deadline."

"We were not allowed to collect our belongings," he added.

West Jakarta

Meanwhile, 17 residents of Jembatan Besi, West Jakarta, demanded yesterday that the West Jakarta authorities postpone the demolition of their houses, which are located on the banks of the Angke River.

They came representing hundreds of squatters whose houses face demolition under the Clean River Program. A park is to be planted on the river bank in future.

The authorities issued the final announcement on the demolition of 315 houses along the Angke riverbank on Thursday, setting the date as tomorrow. However, the residents are not ready, according to a local official.

The West Jakarta authorities have given the residents until tomorrow to pull down their houses. If they fail to do so, the authorities will demolish them by force.

"We want the authorities to postpone the demolition until next year," a resident said, adding that they have no alternative accommodation. "We have always paid the property taxes," he added.

Karsidin, a mayoralty official, told the residents yesterday that the fact that they had paid property taxes did not mean that they had any rights over the land. However, he gave them one more month to demolish their homes. (yns/29)