Evicted 'homeowners' file police report
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Three house owners, whose houses were demolished by South Jakarta by public order officers for the extension of Cilandak Town Square mall, filed complaints on Friday with the city police concerning the appropriation of their property by PT Asuransi Jiwasraya insurance company and the South Jakarta mayoralty's Public Housing Agency.
Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) lawyer Gatot, who is representing the house owners, said the agency did not have the legal right to evict the owners.
"The houses are the private property of our clients and do not belong to the agency. Therefore, the mayoralty has no legal basis for the eviction and the demolition," he said.
Gatot also accused the housing agency and the insurance company of vandalism and theft during the forced eviction.
He also demanded that city police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara impose administrative sanctions against South Jakarta Police chief and Cilandak Police chief, who supported the eviction process.
"We also demand that all police officers involved in the illegal repossession are given similar sanctions," he said.
The residents claim they had obtained a letter from the city police chief guaranteeing the safety and the ownership rights of the three house owners.
They claim that Makbul issued the letter in response to the residents' demand for protection after they received threats following the issuance of an order from the housing agency on July 12, 2003, to vacate the land.
As for PT Asuransi Jiwasraya, Gatot said the company must compensate the evicted residents in cash. However, he did not mention the amounts they would demand.
The three house owners -- Soenarno, Handoyo and Jemry Simatupang -- claim they are the valid owners of the land, a claim backed up by a 1997 Supreme Court ruling.
They had lived in their houses on Jl. T.B. Simatupang, Cilandak Barat, South Jakarta, for 37 years.
The public order officers demolished their houses on Thursday.
Jemry explained that the housing agency had mistakenly torn down their houses as the demolition order was addressed to house number 18A, while the three houses' numbers were 30, 32 and 29.
Soenarno said the housing agency had issued the demolition order at the request of PT Asuransi Jiwasraya, which is a shareholder of the upmarket mall.
The insurance company claimed to be in possession of the land certificate, but Soenarno refuted this and said the certificate was made based on a fictitious land title that was not registered with either the Cilandak Barat subdistrict or the Cilandak district office.