Penjaringan fire victims begin life in open air

JAKARTA (JP): Residents of the Penjaringan district, North Jakarta, who lost their homes in a fire on Monday, said yesterday they are uncertain if they have to quit the area or whether they will be allowed to rebuild their houses.

The mayoralty office has announced that rebuilding the houses is not allowed but the families say they have never received official orders to evacuate the area.

Budi Suyono, a neighborhood chief, said he could only let residents living in the open air rebuild their homes.

"The subdistrict head and mayoralty staff who came here (on Monday and yesterday morning) have not said anything," Budi said at the site on Jl. Muara Karang.

He said 325 residents living in 52 homes have become homeless. Mayoralty figures said there were 71 families and 150 buildings. Other buildings destroyed in the fire which began at 3:40 p.m. were stalls and shops.

Victims, including a couple who married on Monday at 10 a.m., have taken shelter at relatives' yards or in neighboring factories and in tents on the site of former houses.

Yesterday residents began life in the open air, buying food from vendors and erecting tents.

Some bought tents as the Indonesian Red Cross had yet to fulfill its promise to provide tents by noon.

Meanwhile neighborhood chief Budi coaxed nearby factory and warehouse owners to let residents stay in their yards until tents became available.

Budi said the expected help from the mayoralty branch of the Indonesian Red Cross to set up a communal kitchen had also yet to arrive.

The area, which houses several factories and warehouses, is under the management of the city-owned Pluit Management Body (BPL Pluit).

Darrundono, the head of the Body, said none of the buildings were owned by the Body. However some residents said buildings were originally bought from the Body.

Residents who said they wanted to protest to the subdistrict office about the mayoralty statements, delayed their plans and hoped officials had mistaken theirs for another neighborhood.

However yesterday's repeated release clearly mentioned their neighborhood.

"The Penjaringan district head Imam Supardi said fire victims on Jl. Muara Karang, neighborhood number 022/08 in the Penjaringan sub-district are not allowed to rebuild their homes, as the location is a river bank," the statement from the mayoralty public relations office said.

Robert Herwawan, an army pensioner, said residents will refuse to give up the site since they have ownership documents.

"We demand compensation if the government really forbids us to rebuild our houses," Robert, a security guard for a private company, who lost Rp 5 million in the fire, said.

Sumardi, from Wonogiri, Central Java, said that he bought his house for Rp 2 million from a timber trader in 1983. He said the trader had bought the house from the Pluit Management Body.

In 1982, he said, the Body had moved mostly timber traders to the site from Jl. Teluk Gong, North Jakarta, where a toll road was planned.

An owner of a scavenging business, Mardi, said residents had permits from the city-owned Pluit Management Body, the mayoralty and district offices. (jun/anr)