More people to get marching orders as eviction continues

Bambang Nurbianto and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Thousands of more families will soon be left homeless as the Jakarta Administration is set to continue its policy of evicting squatters living illegally on privately and state-owned land across the city.

Around 700 families living on a 12-hectare site next to the Taman Anggrek Mall on Jl. S. Parman, West Jakarta, will be the next to be evicted, followed by around 200 families in Tegal Alur, also in West Jakarta.

"We are targeting the freeing up of the land at both locations before entering the fasting month," said West Jakarta Mayor Sarimun Hadisaputro on Monday after a meeting with Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso and the president of state housing authority Perum Perumnas president M. Latief Malangyudha.

The fasting month will start on Oct. 27.

North Jakarta Mayor Effendi Annas made a similar statement, saying that his administration would support private sector and state companies that wished to demolish houses built illegally in his municipality.

"North Jakarta has long been a mecca for squatters," Annas told the media.

Annas said that the squatters' shacks and houses built on land owned by state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina in Plumpang, by PT Jasa Marga along the toll road in Pluit and along the banks of the Angke river and the Cengkareng Main Drain.

Annas said that PT Jasa Marga and the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure were expected to immediately evict people living under the toll road as their presence was disrupting the lives of local people.

"I hope the ministry will organize the evictions as it was the ministry that allowed them to settle here at the beginning. We'll help if they need it," he said.

Latief said that Perumnas also planned to clear squatters off 2.7 hectares of land in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, and 20 hectares of land in Pulo Gebang, East Jakarta.

In the last two weeks, municipality public order officers forcibly demolished more than 1,600 shacks built on 55-hectare site owned by Perum Perumnas. A man died after clashes with officers while a girl was injured during the evictions.

Some 25 hectares of the land will be used as a commercial zones for shopping malls and office buildings.

Latief said that some 15 of the 25 hectares would be sold to the private sector while the rest would continue to be managed by Perumnas. The remaining 30 hectares would be used for apartments.

"The administration has give its approval for our project to turn the land into a commercial center," he said.

During a meeting on the latest evictions held by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), the National Commission on Child Protection and the National Commission on Violence Against Women, key officials from the municipality, the West Jakarta Police and Perumnas failed to show up.

"We only want to serve as a mediator between them and the residents because this series of evictions -- although they prefer to call them public law and order operations -- have caused casualties. We hope they will come to the next meeting on Wednesday," said Komnas HAM vice chairman Solahuddin Wahid, who heads a team set up to investigate the evictions.

He added that the team would study the procedures and approaches used by the administration during the evictions.

"Our next step will be to write to Sutiyoso asking the administration to halt the evictions and to employ a peaceful approach involving negotiations with the people."