Garbage slide victims demand compensation
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
After being left in uncertainty for over two months, victims of the garbage landslide at the Leuwigajah dumping site in South Cimahi, West Java, have decided to take the matter to court on Thursday, demanding compensation of over Rp 41 trillion (US$4.3 billion).
Some 41 affected families, who were accompanied by their lawyer Johnson Siregar, filed the civil case at the Bandung district court, indicting West Java governor Danny Setiawan, Bandung mayor Dada Rosada, Cimahi mayor Itoch Tochija and Bandung regent Obar Sobarna, as well as Bandung municipality's sanitation office.
Agus Suhardi, 57-year-old resident of Cilimus hamlet in Batujajar Timur district, said they took the case to court after they failed to get compensation from the four administrations, or from the sanitation office as the manager of the Leuwigajah dumping site.
"We heard that the Vice President gave money, and the minister of social services and many other officials gave money. But until now we haven't received complete assistance. We asked about it many times, but there's been no response. We can't stand living under such uncertainty like this," he told Ade Usman from the court's team of prosecutors.
Mountains of garbage at the Leuwigajah dump collapsed in February this year, flattening 69 houses and burying 143 residents living below.
After the disaster, the dumping site was closed down, causing garbage to pile up in temporary dumps. The Leuwigajah dump took garbage from Cimahi mayoralty as well as the Bandung regency and mayoralty.
The disaster received much media attention, with Vice President Jusuf Kalla visiting the site and meeting with survivors, as well as handing out donations worth some Rp 1 billion from the government.
Donations were also received from the West Java governor, Minister of Social Services Bachtiar Chamsyah, and from Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab.
Agus, who lost a child and a grandchild in the disaster, said they were given Rp 1 million each in March to rent a house for six months after having lived in a makeshift shelter for over a month.
"It seems like the money is being used to shut us up. In fact, we don't need money; we need future, because we lost our houses and jobs (in the disaster)," he said.
Another resident, Sumiati, 53, said she received Rp 500,000 condolence money seven days after the disaster.
Each affected family, she added, also received Rp 1.5 million 40 days after the disaster, and in March they received Rp 1 million each for rent money.
"We're given food, but it's only two packs of instant noodles and a kilogram of rice per person per day. Do we have to eat like that all the time? We can't earn money; our only job at the plantation is now gone as the field is now covered with garbage," Sumiati, who lost her two children in the disaster, said as she broke into tears.
Earlier, the garbage landslide victims had reported their case to Bandung regental council, but their pleas was not heard.
"It's complicated. All we want is proper compensation," Agus said.
The residents were demanding compensation of more than Rp 41 trillion, comprising Rp 18.6 million in material losses and Rp 41 trillion in immaterial loss.
"The immaterial loss is what pains them; the stress and other psychological disturbances they now suffer due to the dumping site management's recklessness," Johnson said.