Evicted people spend the night at Komnas' office

JAKARTA (JP): About 200 people, including children and babies, from Pancoran Mas, in Depok, vowed yesterday to stay at the National Commission on Human Rights' office on Jl. Latuharhari, in Central Jakarta.

Their nowhere else to go "sit in" started when 100 of them went to the rights body to spend the night Tuesday after they were evicted from "their land" on April 17.

More people went to the office yesterday.

They said Bogor and Depok mayoralty officials bulldozed 700 makeshifts houses on 19 hectares in Pancoran Mas, Depok, on April 17. It is the Ministry of Health's land.

The squatters then built new shanties and erected tents, but these were demolished by officials Tuesday.

The group's spokesman, Simon Marpaung, said four people were beaten by a member of the demolition team. Three others were arrested by local police for protesting the demolition.

"Many of our children have missed school since the eviction," he said.

The squatters thanked the rights commission for allowing them to stay and for giving them meals.

"The commission gave us nasi bungkus for breakfast and lunch," said Leni Sitanggang, one of the squatters.

She said she and her fellow squatters were allowed to sleep in the commission's complaint room at night.

People were sitting or lying on mats in the commission's front yard yesterday. "The room was being used for commission activities, so we were asked to wait outside," Leni said.

The Depok mayoralty said that the squatters were illegally occupying 19 hectares of Ministry of Health land.

The people, mostly blue collar workers, said they had lived on the empty land since 1974.

Leni said they met with mayoralty officers last year on Oct. 17, last year. The officers told them they could build shanties but not permanent dwellings on the land.

But local authorities never acknowledged them as permanent residents.

"We were refused ID cards and other documents at the subdistrict office," Leni said.

"We don't have any idea why we were allowed to build our shanties. The authorities only gave us two day's notice of the demolition," said Leni, a mother of two.

Meanwhile, the commission's secretary-general, Baharudin Lopa said yesterday the rights body had sent a letter to the mayoralty, asking them to give temporary shelter to the people.

"It's not about human rights, it's about humanity," Lopa said. (jun)