East Jakarta delays Pulomas reservoir eviction

East Jakarta delays Pulomas reservoir eviction

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The owners of hundreds of shanty homes near a reservoir in East
Jakarta have been given until Sunday or Monday to dismantle their
homes before city officials tear them down.

Residents meanwhile voiced disillusion with their favorite
political party in a situation becoming all too familiar across
the city.

The East Jakarta municipality delayed the planned demolition
of about 400 houses around Pulomas reservoir in Kayuputih
district, as only about 160 homes had been dismantled on
Thursday.

"If by Sunday or Monday the houses have not been dismantled,
we will demolish them ourselves," Yusmin D., the head of city
infrastructure at East Jakarta's Public Order Agency, said
Thursday on the site.

The municipality has planned to clear the area since October,
claiming that it wanted to clean it to ease flooding. However,
the residents around Pulomas reservoir, also called Ria-rio
reservoir, resisted and rejected the offer of compensation.

The neighborhood includes vendors, bus drivers, housewives,
sex workers and the notorious Kapak Merah (Red Axe) robbery gang
that targets motorists. Scores of residents support the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

On Thursday, while residents dismantled their homes, children
and housewives walked to and fro carrying planks, television sets
and mattresses. Several red PDI Perjuangan flags were fluttering
in the breeze, but some residents said they would likely not vote
in the next elections.

"I will be a golput (nonvoter)," said one resident, who
identified himself only as Silalahi. "We were the people who made
it possible for PDI Perjuangan to win in this area in the last
elections. But now that we are being evicted, we ask what the
party has done for us? Nothing."

Residents said that previously a number of party members
approached them and told them not to give up their homes easily.
Saying they sensed that the party supported them, the residents
staunchly resisted the eviction.

However, at the time of eviction the above party members were
nowhere to be seen. Residents living on the banks of the
reservoir later accepted Rp 300,000 (US$35) in compensation for
each house, and dismantled their homes.

However, owners of about 200 houses across the bank looked
shocked on Thursday when they heard from officials that their
homes would also be targeted this week.

"I thought the land across the bank belonged to the Adam Malik
Foundation, and that we would therefore not be evicted unless the
foundation told us to go," said Edi WS, referring to a foundation
set up by the family of a late vice president.

However, the municipality claims the land belongs to the city,
and the above official Yusmin said all illegal buildings built
within 30 meters of the reservoir's banks will be demolished.