Karet residents upset over unfair land compensation

JAKARTA (JP): Forty residents of Karet Tengsin, Central Jakarta, have requested the National Commission on Human Rights mediate between them and the city authorities about what they claim is unfair land compensation.

The residents' spokesman told The Jakarta Post before being received by a Commission official that local residents had refused to accept compensation offered by the mayoralty because it was too low compared to that paid by a private company to people living nearby.

Pulungan, the spokesman, said the authorities only offered them Rp 250,000 per square meter, whereas the other group of people had been paid Rp 1.5 million per square meter by PT Jaya Realty. According Pulungan, PT Jaya Realty is constructing apartments in the area.

"How could land in the same area be valued differently?" Pulungan asked.

He said mayoralty officials told them that there was no way to increase the rate of compensation because it is in line with the regulation.

According to Pulungan, the officials told them they would have to leave the area by the end of the month. This is to pave the way for the widening of a road which passes the kampong and for the betterment of the area along the Krukut River bank, according to Pulungan.

Pulungan said the majority of 160 families living along Krukut River are low-paid construction workers. The rest are taxi drivers and sidewalk vendors.

He said the residents had lived there since 1960 and their houses were built legally.

"Therefore, even though we do not have any certificates for our land we deserve fair compensation."

He said the people did not understand why the authorities had taken over the responsibility of appropriating the lands when a private company had been appointed to do so.

This is against the law, he said.

"We need the government's understanding that one would not survive with the amount of money without a home," a local housewife said.

Pulungan said the residents had registered complaints with the city council and city administration but that there had been no follow up.

Meanwhile P.L. Tobing, an expert staff of the Commission on Human Rights, who received the delegation, told the Post that he had promised to help the residents.

He said he would send a letter to Jakarta governor requesting the postponement of land appropriation. Tobing said he would also arrange a meeting between the residents and the authorities. (03)