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)