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of the Prosperous Justice Party faction Muhammad Gunawan, who stressed that his faction pushed for the revision of all out-of-date bylaws that were not in line with public interests.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