Evicted residents call for Mayor's dismissal
Evicted residents call for Mayor's dismissal
JAKARTA (JP): Representatives of Marunda residents in North
Jakarta visited the City Hall on Thursday to protest the North
Jakarta Mayoralty's eviction of about 1,500 people from vacant
land they had previously been permitted to cultivate.
Residents' spokesman Ujang Sucipto said the mayoralty's public
order officers, assisted by police and military officers, also
set fire to at least 300 makeshift houses belonging to the
residents during Wednesday's eviction.
"The mayoralty also deployed dozens of hoodlums who claimed to
be from Banten," Ujang said, condemning that the eviction was
conducted without any negotiation or notification process.
He revealed that the residents were staying in an open area
near the 70-hectare plot of land following the burning of their
homes and destruction of their possessions, which were crushed by
a bulldozer deployed by the mayoralty.
He urged City Governor Sutiyoso to dismiss North Jakarta Mayor
Soebagio for employing hoodlums to conduct the eviction.
"We demand to be allowed to return to the land.
"If not, we will stay at the City Hall," Ujang said.
One resident, Sarinah, claimed that, in addition to destroying
her shelter and its contents, the public order officers also took
her 50 chickens.
"I have nothing now. Not even clothes," Sarinah said before
bursting into tears.
City Public Order Officer Firman Hutajulu, who met with the
protesters, said the land belonged to the state-owned industrial
estate company PT Kawasan Berikat Nusantara.
"You were permitted to manage the land, but not to build
houses. Now, the company wants the land back," Firman told the
residents.
He said the residents were allowed to manage the land for
three years since 1997, as a means of providing them with a
living following the prolonged economic crisis.
He urged the residents to return to their respective districts
in Koja, Kelapa Gading and Cilincing in North Jakarta.
But the residents said that they have no home in the
districts, saying that they rented houses before they were told
to move to the land.
Separately, North Jakarta Mayor Soebagio denied deploying
hoodlums in the eviction.
"They are Banten people who have become the mayoralty's
civilian auxiliary (Banpol) officers. The eviction was conducted
according to procedures," Soebagio said.
He said that he had asked the residents to leave the land
since last year when the agreement allowing them to manage the
land expired.
He said that, in the agreement, the residents were not allowed
to construct buildings, only cultivate the land.
Soebagio admitted that at that time the mayoralty "borrowed"
the land from PT Kawasan Berikat Nusantara to give jobs to some
1,500 unemployed people in North Jakarta.
"But now, most of them (who are on the land) are different
people, not the ones who used to cultivate the land four years
ago," he said. (jun)