Evictees' tents demolished on eve of Ramadhan
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
On the eve of Ramadhan, a group of people who had been evicted from their homes in Tanjung Duren Selatan, West Jakarta, had their makeshift tents torn down by public order officers on Sunday.
One of the residents told The Jakarta Post their tents were "cleared" by the officers.
The woman, who requested anonymity, said she now had nowhere to go. She hurriedly walked away when several thugs carrying bamboo sticks began staring at her.
The evictees set up tents in front of the abandoned Bank Dewa Ruci building after their houses next to Mal Taman Anggrek were demolished by the West Jakarta municipality administration on Oct. 2.
A number of thugs prevented the Post from entering the area around the abandoned bank building, saying "their boss" had ordered them to keep out journalists.
The cleared land is surrounded by a concrete wall and iron gate.
People were seen coming out through the gates with their belongings packed in carts or trucks.
Rifat Hasibuan, the lawyer for the heirs of the former owner of the land, Munawar, would not give a reason for the order to clear away the tents. He also declined to say why the evicted people were not allowed to remain at the site any longer.
"I don't even have any information on when ... the abandoned building will be demolished," he told the Post.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people who were evicted from Cengkareng, West Jakarta, and Muara Angke, North Jakarta, expressed distrust for the promises made to them by government officials and politicians.
"I don't believe in empty promises!" screamed Maryati, one of the evictees from Cengkareng, to People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais.
Amien met with a group of evictees at the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) office in Central Jakarta on Sunday morning. No officials from Komnas HAM attended the meeting.
Amien promised the evictees he would hold discussions with Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso on Monday to find a solution for the evicted people. He also promised to collect food and daily needs for the evictees during the fasting month.
The residents repeated their call for the government to provide them housing.
"We thank those who have provided food and daily needs for us because we really need these to survive," Kajidin, the chairman of Traditional Fishermen Union in Muara Angke, said.
"But what we really need is a place where we can live peacefully that will enable us (fishermen) to go fishing again," he said.
He complained of the "empty promises" made by Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Rokhmin Dahuri and Minister of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure Soenarno before the evictions in Muara Angke last Wednesday.
Both ministers had promised to persuade Sutiyoso to postpone the evictions until after the Idul Fitri holiday. These promises left the fishermen unprepared when North Jakarta municipality administration officers demolished their houses later in the day.
Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah was scheduled to distribute relief packages to Muara Angke's evictees on Sunday. But Kajidin said that as of Sunday afternoon they had not received aid from the minister.
On Saturday, the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) distributed 1,500 relief packages containing food and medicine to the evicted families of Muara Angke.
PMI chairman Mar'ie Muhammad said he hoped the packages would help prevent the spread of illnesses like diarrhea, respiratory infections, dysentery, typhoid and rashes.