Land sharing proposed for evicted residents
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Following the recent violent evictions in the capital, activists and councillors suggested a more civilized way of solving the seemingly never-ending problem by arranging land-sharing deals between landowners and the "illegal" occupants.
Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) coordinator Wardah Hafidz said on Wednesday that such deals would benefit both sides as they would be legally bound should in the case of land ownership disputes in the future, thus giving both sides legal certainty.
"We have approached a number of landowners, who all gave positive responses to the proposition which, according to them, is more rational than hiring thugs to clear the land," she said during a ceremony marking the fifth anniversary of the Urban Poor Network in Menteng, Central Jakarta. UPC is a member of the Network.
She explained that the idea was to lease at least 10 percent of the land to home-seekers either by providing low-cost apartments or alternative housing arrangements, with such schemes being integrated with the commercial facilities to be built on the land.
Councillor Tjuk Sudono of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) supported the idea by saying that the city administration could have bought part of the land involved in the recent evictions and built low-cost apartments for the "illegal" occupants.
"The administration should have sided with the people's interests. The landowners may hold title over the land but they can't just evict the occupants like that without proper compensation," he said at the city council building.
When asked if the council would summon Governor Sutiyoso to explain his policy -- as demanded a day earlier by a coalition made up of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) and the Civil Society Coalition for Participatory Policymaking -- Tjuk said he was not optimistic that the other councillors would agree to this.
"Even if we all were equally concerned (about the evictions), the governor won't be summoned in the near future," said Tjuk, who is the head of the City Council's development commission, while blaming the backlog of business in the council for this.
Councillor Syamsidar Siregar of the National Mandate Party (PAN) argued that summoning the governor over recent violent evictions would take time as the council would first have to establish a plenary commission and hold an indeterminate number of sessions before arriving at an agreement.
Besides demanding that the governor be summoned to explain his policy, the coalition also demanded that the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) conduct a probe into the recent evictions.
The evictions at Jembatan Besi in Tambora, Kampung Sawah in Tanjung Duren Selatan and Kampung Baru in Cengkareng -- all three in West Jakarta municipality -- were marked by violent attacks by public order officers and hired thugs on the residents. Thousands of people were left homeless after the evictions and dozens were injured during the ensuing clashes.
The administration has promised to continue its campaign to evict squatters from a number of areas in North Jakarta, including from along the banks of the Adem river in Muara Karang, from Tanah Merah in Plumpang, from under the Wiyoto Wiyono toll road in Pluit, and from the Tegal Alur cemetery in West Jakarta.