Evicted families retreat to forests and their boats

Evicted families retreat to forests and their boats

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A day after watching their stilt-houses demolished by North
Jakarta public order officers, most Muara Angke fishermen
families are still taking refuge at the protected forest across
from their former homes on Thursday, having no idea where else
they can go.

Most of them have constructed crude shelters built from planks
on the edge of the forest while others have set up shelters on
the side of the road bordering the adjacent Pluit Karang housing
complex and the land they had previously occupied.

Six members of Nurdin's family, who erected simple shelters on
the roadside, said that the housing complex management had
allowed them to stay there until Saturday.

"After that? Well, we don't know yet," said Desi, the daughter
of Nurdin who has skipped her classes at school three days
running.

But it is not just students that have postponed their
activities. The fishermen stayed ashore for around two weeks
prior to the evictions and right up until they were forcibly
evicted they were too distressed to go fishing.

Warsiti -- still nursing six-month-old Wahyudin -- was worried
about her baby's health, she can do little to protect him from
the scorching heat and the onset of the rainy season is imminent.

The families said that for the most part they had yet to
receive any assistance. Only a few families had been the
recipients of five tents from some concerned university students.

A few kilometers away, other evicted families had started to
mark-out a small coastal milkfish pond with bamboo poles in order
to erect new stilt-houses.

One family had even commenced the construction of a stilt-
house at an ambitious 16-square-meters.

Ramidi, one of the fishermen, said that the families were all
racing to get a spot on the pond. He did not know how many
families hoped to live on the pond, nor who owned the pond.

North Jakarta municipality administration had earlier notified
the fishermen that the eviction process was an attempt to clean-
up the river.

Separately, the East Jakarta municipality administration has
begun demolishing around 100 houses along the banks of Cipinang
river.

Paimin Napitupulu, the municipality administration assistant
of economic and development affairs, said that there were 400
houses set to be demolished, but the owners of more than 200
houses had already started demolishing them three days ago after
receiving Rp 250,000 (US$30) for each house.

The demolitions are part of the municipality's project to
clean-up and widen the river. The project should have been
carried out years ago, but the 1997 economic crisis in the
country stalled it, he added.

In 1994, the municipality paid compensation to land owners
along the river.

Endang, 45, who had previously given up his backyard as part
of the project, said he did not oppose the plan as long as the
demolitions did not exceed the border agreed upon in talks in
1994.

Across from Endang's house is a luxurious house belonging to a
the family of a businessman. The family had not avoided
sacrificing at least some of their land. They had given up half
of their tennis court and half of their big fish pond.

About 700 security officers from the municipality public order
agency and the East Jakarta Police were seen trying to knock down
the high barriers of luxurious houses along the riverbank which
were too close to the river. Anything built within 12-meters from
the edge of the river is to be demolished.