Foundation succeeds, city govt failed
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
"It is the nicest low-cost apartment I have ever seen in my life," said Edi Suratno, a new resident in an apartment complex built by Taiwan-based Buddha Tzu Chi foundation in East Cengkareng, West Jakarta.
Until last Saturday, Suratno, 49, was still living on the riverbank next to Angke river in Kapuk Muara, Penjaringan subdistrict, North Jakarta.
Along with 380 families from the riverbank, he moved in to the five-story apartment on Sunday where he lives in a 36-square- meter unit on the ground floor.
Every apartment in the new building has a family room, two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and a small service area. Each unit is fully furnished with a wooden bed, a bunk-bed and a plastic table with six chairs.
The Suratno family -- who used to live in a tiny shack on stilts on the river -- quickly fell in love with their new home.
"At first, all the residents in my neighborhood were reluctant to move from Kapuk Muara. But after seeing the building and the facilities, we changed our mind," the father of four, who had lived in Kapuk Muara since 1980, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
He no longer has the fear of possible eviction conducted regularly by the city public order agency.
To live in the apartments, each family is required to pay a monthly rental fee of Rp 90,000 (US$11) plus utilities.
The apartment's property manager Rahman said that the collected fee, amounted to a total of Rp 90 million, would be used to help cover the maintenance costs at the complex for such things as security, trash disposal and gardens.
The foundation also donates Rp 160 million per month for the maintenance of the apartment complex.
Rahman said that the foundation's decision to charge residents was only to create a sense of ownership and dignity.
"The Tzu Chi foundation planned to approve totally free housing for the former riverbank squatters. But by charging them a bit, they will be more responsible in maintaining their apartments," he said.
The white-painted apartment building has an efficient architectural design, making them totally distinctive from other low-cost apartment buildings nearby.
The apartment complex also includes an elementary and a junior high school as well as a two-story building for a community health center.
Living in his new home has also given Suratno a chance to reopen his food stalls on a plot of land designed to accommodate vendors from the apartments. In the near future that land will be turned into a three-story market available for residents to open their businesses, Rahman said.
The foundation also promised to establish an cottage industry to make garments in the complex to accommodate housewives with sewing skills.
However, a question remains on Suratno's mind.
"We can't stop wondering, why was it an international Buddhist foundation that finally decided to help us? Where have our fellow citizens been or our own government?" he asked pointedly.
The city administration has built some low-cost apartment complexes across the city but most have been resold by people to richer people to for profits. The owners, some of them fire victims, apparently preferred to sell and then rent cheaper houses.
Rahman guaranteed that only underprivileged people, including those who used to live on the riverbanks, would be eligible to rent the apartments.
The apartment complex will soon accommodate 620 families from Muara Angke riverbanks.
However, such good will has not always received good responses from other locals. Around 400 other families in Kapuk Muara, who are still facing eviction from the administration, remain reluctant to give up their houses and move to the apartments. They demand that the administration provide them with "fair compensation" in cash.