Land sharing proposed for evicted residents

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.