Home sweet home?
Home sweet home?
Some 200 people, claiming to represent 3000 prospective
buyers, staged a noisy demonstration last Monday at a local
police precinct in East Jakarta. Unfortunately, they failed to
catch up with the director of a housing developer who was being
detained there. Dissatisfied, the group went to the House of
Representatives to lodge their complaint.
The protesters claimed they were cheated by the developer
when, after paying down payments from Rp 700,000 to Rp 2 million,
they found out that the housing development project was a hoax.
The developer is believed to have pocketed at least Rp 3 billion
in the scam.
Similar reports surface from time to time and always the same
pattern emerges: Eager prospective buyers of low-cost and medium-
cost housing pay a down payment to the developer, who lures them
with "model" houses. When delivery time comes, however, it turns
out that the houses are nowhere to be seen. Nine such cases have
been reported so far.
Much-improved economic conditions, particularly over the last
decade, have spawned a boom in the country's real estate
business. As we can see, new housing and apartment projects are
sprouting up in almost every city as the demand grows to
unprecedented levels. So big is the boom that last year monetary
officials called on banks to slow down their granting of credits
and to be more selective in giving out loans for housing
development for fear of overheating the economy.
Faced with such a lucrative market, some slick operators have
seen the opportunity to grab some easy money. A lack of
government control, poor supervision and possible collusion
between officials and developers allow them to operate easily.
One striking fact is that most of the victims are prospective
buyers of low and medium-cost houses. Obviously, it is easier for
the swindlers to attract the lower classes of our society, as
middle and upper-class people usually are more cautious and only
willing to deal with bona fide developers.
We welcome President Soeharto's order instructing the State
Minister of Public Housing to step up efforts to reduce the
incidence of housing fraud. To let those slick developers
continue cheating low and middle-income people is not only
outrageous, but immoral and inhuman.
Tightening measures against dishonest developers, however, is
not sufficient. The Association of Real Estate Companies,
possibly with the help of the Indonesian Consumers Protection
Agency and the media, could help prevent prospective buyers from
falling into these traps. The media, which has enjoyed the real
estate sector's lucrative advertising funds for years, could help
by investigating dubious housing developers.
We also should hail President Soeharto's order, which enforces
the balanced-housing concept by requiring developers to build six
low-cost and three medium-cost houses for every one luxury house.
Because many developers have chosen to ignore this rule, luxury
housing complexes have mushroomed throughout Jakarta.
What those developers seem to forget, however, is that by only
building luxury houses, which are undoubtedly more profitable,
they have planted a time-bomb. Many homeless people believe the
new houses are built only for "the haves". History has shown that
social envy and social gaps can trigger explosions of turmoil and
unrest. And we certainly do not want such things to happen here.