Fighting on behalf of the poor

Fighting on behalf of the poor

Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Architect Johan Silas received a steady stream of congratulatory messages over his cell phone and by e-mail from relatives and colleagues at home and abroad, after he was conferred the Habitat Scroll of Honor 2005 by United Nations Habitat, an international institution involved in human settlement programs.

Johan, a professor at the school of civil and design engineering at the 10 November Technological Institute in Surabaya, was honored for his activities in providing the poor with decent housing.

Since 1989 only three individual Indonesians and one Indonesian institution have received this citation. In addition to Johan, former minister for public works Radinal Mochtar received the citation in 1997, the late Sumatra governor Tengku Rizal Nurdin in 2005 and state Bank Tabungan Negara in 1994.

The institute's rector, Mohammad Nuh, called Johan to congratulate him, saying his achievement would also raise the profile of the institute in the international arena. He said the citation was the first of its kind received by a researcher or lecturer at the institute, the largest university in East Java.

"It came as a surprise to me to learn that I had been awarded this prestigious citation. Thousands of electronic letters crowded my e-mail in-box," Johan, who was born in Samarinda on May 24, 1936, told The Jakarta Post last week.

Johan was also the recipient of the 1991 Japan Housing Association IYSH Matsushita Prize.

Among his e-mails were several from research institutions dealing with issues of human settlement and housing in Indonesia, asking him to take part in their studies.

All this e-mail clutter has been a bit of a problem for Johan, who relies on e-mail to answer his students' questions and to send them needed material.

"I have a lot of students and they need speedy responses. When I am abroad I often have to rush to a post office or a telecommunications stall just to respond to my students' letters," said Johan, a 1963 architecture graduate of the Bandung Institute of Technology and a frequent speaker and guest lecturer at universities in Asia and Europe.

Before e-mail became widespread in Indonesia, Silas corresponded with his students by post.

Since 1998, however, Johan has relied almost exclusively on e- mail to communicate with his students.

That same year, while a speaker at Japan's Kyoto University, he had to deliver his speech while at the same time sending material to his students who were engaged in their final assignment.

"So while I was talking, I kept my laptop computer on. Every time I could find a few minutes to write, I would write and then send the message to my students. I do not want any of my students to be put at a disadvantage because of my busy schedule," said Johan, a recipient of the Development Medal of Merit from the president of Indonesia.

For his students, Johan is a teacher who will always give them his best. There are not many lecturers like him. However busy he is, he always finds time for his students.

'People's architect'

Johan is an architect who has always fought for the poor's right to decent housing. There have probably been only two other architects in Indonesia who could be compared to Johan: the late Romo YB Mangunwijaya and Hasan Poerbo. All three were advocates of community-based development.

While the late Romo YB Mangunwijaya fought for decent housing for the poor in Yogyakarta, Johan has been fighting for decent homes for the poor in Surabaya.

Surabaya, he said, was experiencing very rapid development. Imposing shopping centers, tall office buildings and luxury housing compounds have sprung up across the city. These facilities, however, are enjoyed only by the upper class. The poor are usually denied access to all of these facilities.

The poor, he noted, are unable to secure decent homes that meets environmental and health standards because land and houses in Surabaya are too expensive. So the poor end up in slum areas, their houses causing many urban problems, one of which is flooding.

"I like antiques and I often walk in and out of small villages to look for them. Every time I come to a small village, I am stunned by what I see. The houses there are far from meeting the standards of decent homes," said Johan, who is also a member of the advisory board of Environment & Urbanization, a magazine published in London.

He said the international community, including Indonesia, had accepted the results of the 2nd Habitat Summit held in Istanbul on June 6, 1996, which came up with two main points in its Habitat Agenda, namely adequate housing for all and sustainable human settlement development in an urbanizing world.

A recipient of 1993 ASEAN Institute Achievement Award, Johan often lashes out at the municipal administration for its lack of a clear urban planning concept in its policies.

While on the one hand the government is trying to establish a beautiful and comfortable urban area for its residents, it fails on the other to implement the principles of sustainable settlement development.

Johan has offered several concepts of decent human settlements to the Surabaya municipal administration. On May 10, 1993, the administration asked him to draw up plans for the construction of the Sewa Sombo apartments in Surabaya. He has been involved in many other apartment projects, and in designing relocation houses for residents moved from their settlements along riverbanks in the city.

"Apartments are low-cost houses for the poor. When an apartment compound is designed using environmentally friendly principles, those living there can enjoy urban facilities," he noted.

Aside from being involved in resettlement programs in Surabaya, Johan is also involved in a number of other projects such as redesigning rural areas in Paiton, Kraksaan and Dringu districts in Probolinggo regency, managing coastal areas in Probolinggo, developing a tourism resort in Blitar, drawing up models for urban housing in Jakarta, and participating in the planning of eco-houses and eco-settlements at Japan's Kyoto University.

At present, he is engaged in a housing construction project for the victims of the tsunami in Aceh. Under this project, using funds from the Asian Development Bank, some 14,000 houses will be built in Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar and Sabang.

"Being awarded a citation is a great responsibility. I still have a lot of things to do in Surabaya. What I have longed for throughout my life is the construction of decent homes for the poor," said Johan, who was awarded The Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1986 and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres in 1989 by the French government.