Evicted Muara Angke fishermen back at sea

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Around 100 evicted fishermen living along the banks of the Muara Angke River, North Jakarta, have started fishing again last week as they wait for the government to relocate them to Indramayu, West Java, as promised.

"Half of our group have gone fishing, because we can't afford to be idle," said chairman of the Traditional Fishermen's Union (SNT) Kajidin on Monday.

He said some of the fishermen had managed to haul in a good catch.

"Alhamdullilah (Praise be to God), this morning we caught three kilograms of shrimp and sold them for Rp 50,000 (US$5.88) a kilo," he said gratefully.

Fishermen generally share their catch among the crew of a single boat, usually three or four fishermen.

About 250 families of fishermen had not gone out to sea for almost three weeks, as they had to live aboard their boats along with all their belongings following their forced eviction on Oct. 22 by the North Jakarta municipal administration. Public Order officers and other municipal personnel completely demolished their stilt houses.

"Now, we have pitched a number of makeshift tents on our former land," Kajidin said.

The land is covered with debris and piles of wooden beams and ceiling paneling -- with nails still jutting out from some of them -- and corrugated iron.

Kajidin said some boats were still loaded with the fishermen's belongings, like stoves, mattress and drawers.

"Some fishermen have to unload their things on shore in the morning before setting out, and reload them in the afternoon," he said.

The fishermen have been living without any shelter and are prone to ailments like respiratory infections, diarrhea and rashes. The city administration has refused to provide temporary shelter for the evictees until they find another place to live.

The city, in "enforcing the law", has made thousands of families homeless in the last three months, but has left it to institutions like the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to provide its office as a shelter for evictees.

Separately, the North Jakarta administration had promised to build low-cost apartments in Muara Angke for the evicted fishermen, while the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure had promised to provide land and housing near the coast in Indramayu.

Minister Soenarno announced publicly that he had already sent a letter to the Indramayu regent, asking the regency to provide land at Song Beach for low-cost government houses for the fishermen.

The fishermen have survived aboard their boats while waiting for either the North Jakarta administration or the government to fulfill their promise.

However, the fishermen are undecided about whether they would choose to rent low-cost apartments or to buy houses, if both options are provided.

"Most of us seem to prefer buying low-cost houses on credit than renting apartments," said Kajidin.

The city administration stopped selling low-cost apartments several years ago and now only lease them, saying this would curb property speculation in the metropolis.