Eviction, Who's to blame?

T. Sima Gunawan, Contributor, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, tabita@cbn.net.id

More and more poor people in the city are losing their homes due to forced evictions. In many cases, the authorities conducted the evictions because the squatters lived on riverbanks, where settlements are banned, and their presence might cause floods.

The most recent cases occurred in Kampung Baru, Cengkareng, West Jakarta, this week. On Sept.17, about 2,600 officers from the police, the armed forces and the city public order office started to demolish 1,500 houses that were built on a 50-hectare plot of land owned by the state housing company, Perumnas.

Earlier, in Jembatan Besi, also in West Jakarta, more than 1,700 houses were destroyed, leaving some 6,000 people homeless when the authorities cleared the 5.5 hectare of land belonging to PT Cakra Bumi Mandala.

Both cases, like some other forced evictions, were marred with violence as many residents resisted.

More than 40 residents and nine policemen were reportedly injured during Wednesday's clash while several suspected provocateurs were detained.

West Jakarta Mayor Sarimun said that in 1998 he requested Perumnas to allow residents to use the idle land to grow corps because at that time many people were left jobless due to the economic crisis.

He said that the residents should not build any house there. But he failed to explain how there could be some 1,500 houses on the land. The mayor -- as well as Governor Sutiyoso -- blamed its residents who resisted, saying that they should have left a long time ago. They said that the eviction was in accordance with the law.

But they could not just blame the people. They should also look to themselves and their subordinates, who had failed to supervise the use of the land.

If the authorities really want to uphold the law and keep everything in order, they should have done it a long time ago, before irregularities were quite rampant, and before 1,500 houses were built Perumnas land. The West Jakarta mayoralty officers should have prevented the people from erecting any buildings there in the first place.

How could there be so many houses, including permanent residential structures on the land? Maybe the residents were stubborn. But maybe they did not know what they were doing. Maybe there were some culprits who conspired with corrupt officials to take advantage of the situation.

Many residents refused to leave because they considered themselves as legal occupants of the land. One resident, Kardi, 40, told journalists that he bought the land in 1997. Another resident showed a document that she obtained after buying the land even though its authenticity was not clear.

Rights activists have repeatedly called upon the authorities not to violate human rights in conducting the evictions. They also urged the government not to wash their hands and pay attention to the fate of the eviction victims.

Judging from the legal aspects, it is very clear that the people are wrong because they occupied Perumnas land. Once a law is implemented, the assumption is that everybody knows it. People cannot say that they should not be held responsible because they are not aware of the law.

Unfortunately, many are ignorant of the law. Take Kardi. He said that he had bought the land from someone he believed had rights over the land. Therefore he thought he was entitled to use the land. Being unaware of the legal consequences, he, and many others, erected houses and settled down. Which of course explains their resistance.

On the other hand, there are many people who know the law well but take advantage of the ignorance of others. They might have claimed they had the right to the land, sell it to the ignorant and disappear. They might have also conspired with corrupt officials even though it was not easy to prove.

The authorities should check their own people and take any action against their delinquent subordinates.

What is more important for the government to do is to conduct a legal campaign or legal education to improve legal awareness, especially among the poor.

And the implementation of the law and regulations should not be based on legal aspects alone, but must consider the social and economic aspects as well as the feelings of justice within society. Positive law is not the only thing that becomes the guidance of the administration in managing the city. It should not be implemented rigidly. As a legal expert put it, the implementation of the law is an art. And to be able to master the art, one should be sensible and sensitive.