Govt told to keep promise to provide low-cost homes
Govt told to keep promise to provide low-cost homes
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government must revive its long-forgotten commitment to
provide houses for the low-income bracket, instead of bowing to
commercial interests and evicting the poor people, said urban
expert Marco Kusumawijaya.
"The Cengkareng eviction at (state-run housing company) Perum
Perumnas' land has highlighted a waning commitment in providing
affordable housing," Marco told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
"Until the 1980s, Perumnas was successful in providing low-
cost housing for people. But as Cendana's interests began to
interfere with the property business, the commitment has worn
thin," he said, referring to the interests of former president
Soeharto's family and cronies.
The lack of new residential areas within the capital has
forced people to buy homes on the outskirts, in the areas of
Tangerang, Bekasi, Depok and Bogor, or on the perimeter of
Greater Jakarta.
Marco said that Jakarta, as one of the fastest growing cities
in the country, also had a responsibility to provide job for poor
people from the countryside.
"Data in recent years show that Jakarta has experienced
negative migration, meaning the number of people entering the
city is fewer than those leaving it," he said.
Those entering Jakarta are mostly poor people driven out of
their villages from the scarcity of work, who come to look for
jobs in the informal sector in Jakarta.
"Apparently, the administration is afraid that the city will
become overrun by the poor and have decided to take the easiest
way out -- by evicting them -- hoping they will return to their
home villages," he said.
However, the easiest way is not necessarily the effective way.
Edi Saidi, a community organizer at the Urban Poor Consortium,
said many evicted residents refused to return to the villages.
"Look at the evicted residents from Jembatan Besi, West
Jakarta, and Teluk Gong, North Jakarta, who prefer to build
makeshift houses in other places instead of leaving the city,"
Edi told the Post.
"Of course, some of them did return to their villages, but
within a week they were back in Jakarta again because they
couldn't find jobs in their villages."
Edi, who helps evicted residents in dealing with the
administration, said these evicted residents were living in a
state of extreme poverty, which could push them toward petty
crimes to make a little money.
"Eviction certainly does not solve anything," he stressed.
The administration has pledged to clear lands owned by private
and state companies of "illegal" occupants before the start of
the Muslim fasting month, which begins on Oct. 25.
About 200 families in Tegal Alur, West Jakarta, are the next
to be evicted, followed by other target mayoralties in the
capital.