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.