Officers clash with residents over eviction

JAKARTA (JP): City public order officials clashed with residents of Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said, Kuningan, South Jakarta on Saturday when they attempted to evict the occupants of six houses belonging to the city administration.

The incident began when five truckloads of city officials arrived at a housing complex belonging to the city administration's training center at 9 a.m.

As they realized the officials' intention, hundreds of residents attacked and threw stones at the officials. The attack forced the officials to retreat. Residents also damaged three trucks belonging to the city administration.

The six houses are currently occupied by retired city employees. The city administration reportedly wants current city administration officials to live in them.

An occupant of one of the six houses, Joni Syahrizal, 61, said they were surprised to see the officials in the area.

"We did not know about the plan. There has been no information provided to the residents.

"We attacked the officials because we weren't prepared to move and we haven't packed our stuff yet. The officials simply said that they would take all of our belongings to the city's warehouse in Cakung, East Jakarta," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Joni, a former national water polo athlete in the 1960s, said he had lived in the housing complex for 19 years.

"My supervisor at the city sport agency allowed me and five other colleagues to occupy the houses when we retired," he said.

He said he understood that current city employees needed the houses, but expected the city administration to provide them with sufficient compensation to procure new houses.

"The city administration has only offered compensation of Rp 1 million (US$ 135) for each family. That's the only offer we've had for the past two years," he said.

Joni also said the city administration had refused to help them find new houses.

"We are now only asking for an additional one month to find another place to live," he said.

One of the six houses the city wishes to see vacated is now used as the secretariat of a nongovernmental organization, Food for the Poor (Param). Activists from the organization were reportedly involved in the clash, attacking and hurling stones at the city officials.

Residents have started to guard the housing complex in anticipation of another attempt by city officials to evict them. Some other residents, however, were seen starting to pack up their belongings. (05)