Evictions becoming increasingly refined

JAKARTA (JP): Evictions are on the rise, backed up by legal instruments and increasingly sophisticated methods, lawyers and activists say.

A rule declaring the use of land "for public interests", as defined by a master plan reviewed every five years between the governor and city council, is no longer being referred to.

It has been replaced by a new decree, listing areas to be defined as "public interest" areas -- such as hospitals and other facilities -- lawyer Nursyahbani Katjasungkana said.

Meanwhile, residents living on land planned for clearing have become apathetic, as they watch other cases in which similar inhabitants lose out against the government and investors, said a social worker from a non-governmental organization on urban affairs, Sandyawan, of the Jakarta Social Institute.

"Collusion has occurred on a broad scale in the sense that the government has taken sides with investors rather than with the people," Nursyahbani said yesterday.

Other lawyers noted that land has long become an economic commodity.

They were commenting on forced evictions, a main issue raised in the ongoing United Nations Conference on Human Settlements in Istanbul, Turkey.

As of this year alone, at least 20 cases have surfaced across the city.

The director of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, Luhut Pangaribuan, said those with access to power and wealth "can decide the price and process of eviction through the use of authorities and certain groups" like hoodlums.

He cited the latest eviction in the Tanah Abang district in the Kebon Kacang subdistrict of Central Jakarta. Councilors have questioned the mayor's demolition order for the area, where they said a five-star hotel is planned.

Nursyahbani added that another problem related to eviction for private interests involves authorities -- particularly from the city planning agency -- who do not know which plots are state property.

"Therefore, they cannot conduct their authority of allocating land to either investors or slum residents," she said. She added that so far, most evictions involved state property.

Further justification for eviction can be found in a 1975 decree from the Ministry of Home Affairs, which rules that the government can own land.

This authorizes the government to buy the land -- also for private interests -- giving residents low compensation on the grounds that state land is to be used for public interests.

"The decree contradicts the Agrarian Law and the 1945 Constitution," she said.

The Constitution says that the state has authority over vital resources such as land, which is elaborated as having authority to manage and distribute land under the 1960 Agrarian Law.

Sandyawan from the Jakarta Social Institute cited eviction methods ranging from, for example, a sudden attack with a bulldozer in Plumpang, North Jakarta in 1975 to "more sophisticated" methods now being used.

Indications of these methods include practices of buying off property by seemingly individual parties and disappearances of people to whom slum residents submit regular payments, often with their money and necessary papers.

The Institute's data shows reports of "unexplained fires" in slum areas and suspected cooperation between local authorities and private investors. Governor Surjadi Soedirdja has repeatedly denied any possibility of arson in slum areas.

None of the evictions involved adequate meetings with residents to inform them of the plans.

"Hurried meetings with residents near the time of eviction only result in responses colored by panic, and a feeling of no other choice," Sandyawan said.

The problem of inhabitants' temporary residence, the education of their children and their income sources are not adequately addressed in eviction plans, he added.

Baharuddin Lopa, Secretary-General of the National Commission for Human Rights, said the Commission has been receiving an increasing number of complaints concerning eviction.

Mainly caused by a gap in interests, the urgent need for land makes people impatient to bring cases to court, he said.

The Commission always recommends that the government accommodate the interests of the people, he said.

"But the people often lack possession of legal documents, which are so substantial," Baharuddin said. (14/anr)