Kedoya residents ask for payment

JAKARTA (JP): Residents of the Kedoya Utara subdistrict in West Jakarta complained at the National Commission on Human Rights yesterday about not receiving any compensation for the demolition of their homes by public order officers.

Soepadmo, one of the eight people representing about 700 families, said that since the demolition of their houses in 1995, the residents had lived in tents and makeshift houses.

"Without any prior discussion we were ordered to move before the public order officers, assisted by both police and military personnel, demolished our houses," he said.

The demolished houses, on Jl. Garden Baru and Jl. Suka Indah in the Kebon Jeruk district, had accommodated about 5,000 people.

The residents said they bought the seven-hectare plot at an average price of Rp 25,000 (US$9.6 at current rates) per square meter in 1986.

But the West Jakarta Mayoralty claimed later that the land belonged to the Tangerang irrigation office and wanted to turn the land into a park, they said.

The residents said they would leave if given Rp 500,000 per square meter of their land and compensation of between Rp 200,000 and Rp 400,000 per square meter for their houses. (jun)