Factions eye eviction law revision

Factions eye eviction law revision

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The intention of City Council factions to revise a bylaw on
public order is good news for those living on riverbanks, beside
railway tracks and in designated green zones if it is not just
another empty promise by politicians.

Bylaw No. 11/1988 on public order has become a nemesis for
such squatters because it authorizes the city administration to
demolish their homes without compensation.

Golkar faction chairman Inggard Joshua said on Wednesday that
the proposed revision of the bylaw would be part of his faction's
program to revise many bylaws that disregard public interests.

"We must revise the public order bylaw so that we can resolve
various social problems comprehensively," he said, adding that
the amendment would not only open the possibility of demolishing
illegal houses, but would also rule how to resolve its social
impact.

A similar comment came from chairman of the Prosperous Justice
Party faction Muhammad Gunawan, who stressed that his faction
pushed for the revision of all out-of-date bylaws that were not
in line with public interests.

The city administration has been strongly criticized by
various parties for evicting squatters and street vendors on
numerous occasions late last year and early this year, causing
thousands of residents to lose their shelters and jobs.

Criticism also came from the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI-P), which nominated Sutiyoso as a gubernatorial
candidate in 2002. The party believed that Sutiyoso's policy on
evictions had caused the drop of its seats in the council -- from
30 (in 1999-2004) to only 11 (in 2004-2008).

Joshua, however, stressed that the proposed revision of the
bylaw would not make it impossible for the administration to
evict residents illegally occupying state and private land.

He said that, as an example, a new bylaw might propose
different compensation for squatters, depending on the length of
time they had lived on state and private land.

According to Gunawan, the council could stop the
administration from evicting residents who have lived for a long
time on state land if it cannot provide proper compensation for
them.

"We can tell the administration that an eviction must not be
carried out just for the sake of law enforcement," he said.

"It's because the administration cannot put all the blame on
the squatters. It must also blame the officials who allowed them
to build houses illegally," he added.