Evicted fishermen's woes to recur with river expansion plan

Evicted fishermen's woes to recur with river expansion plan

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Hundreds of evicted fishermen and their families living along the
banks of the Muara Angke river in North Jakarta will again be
forced to move, as the Jakarta administration started widening
the river over the weekend to ease flooding.

"The secretary of the (Pluit) subdistrict office came on
Saturday and said we had to leave the riverbank because the city
would widen the river," said Kajidin, chairman of the Traditional
Fishermen's Union (SNT), on Sunday.

Three excavators were seen parked on a section of the
riverbank.

"Two of them have been working since yesterday, sometimes
passing our boats and shanties. They haven't touched our area
though," he said.

Around 240 fishermen families have been homeless since Oct.
22, when North Jakarta public order officers demolished their
stilt houses.

Kajidin said he argued with the official that they could
deepen the river, instead of widening it, to ease flooding.

"The official told me that it was impossible (to deepen the
river) because the city bylaw said so," he said. "I got angry
with him, as the bylaw is made by the officials themselves. Why
can't they change it?"

Kajidin said the SNT had discussed the matter and its members
agreed to resist the second eviction, as they had nowhere else to
live.

Since the first eviction, the fishermen families have been
living on their boats or in makeshift tents along the riverbank.
Several families have built shanties on the cleared land.

Hundreds of others have moved to a large fishpond to the north
of the river and have built stilt huts.

"The subdistrict official suggested that we move to the pond
during the project. He didn't realize that there's no more space
around the pond -- it's fully occupied," said Kajidin.

"The official even refused to give us an official letter for
the Jakarta Fishery Agency to notify them that we will stay there
temporarily."

To build a hut, a family needs between Rp 2 million (US$235)
and Rp 3 million.

The union members have insisted on staying at Muara Angke
until either the government or the city administration allotted a
specific location near the water for them.

The evictions are nothing new for the fishermen, as their
families have been forced to move from place to place in the name
of development.

Most fishermen families on the Muara Angke have lived there
since 1977, when they were evicted from the Muara Karang river,
an western estuary of the Muara Angke.

Muara Karang is now the site of a power plant run by state
electricity company PT PLN.

Before Muara Karang, the fishermen's parents had been evicted
from an estuary of the Ciliwung river in Ancol, North Jakarta.
The estuary was later developed into a recreational marina, home
to luxurious yachts owned by affluent individuals.

Earlier, the Ministry of Settlement and Regional
Infrastructure promised to provide the fishermen with low-cost
housing on Song Beach, Indramayu, West Java. The houses are
expected to be ready next March.

The North Jakarta municipality had also promised to provide
low-cost rental apartments on a 4.5-hectare plot of land in Muara
Angke, but it has yet to determine a specific timeframe.

The fishermen have agreed to move to Indramayu once the houses
are ready, but for the time being, they have no choice but to
stay on their boats in the river.

"We will visit the (Pluit) subdistrict office tomorrow
(Monday) to ask that they allow us to stay here until there's
word about our housing," said Kajidin.