'Priok residents must leave'

'Priok residents must leave'

JAKARTA (JP): The operation to clear Jl. Agung Karya VI in
North Jakarta will continue to make way for a water pipeline
project, a public order official said yesterday.

Boy Firman Syarir, the mayoralty official in charge of public
order, told The Jakarta Post that the residents had no right to
live there. "None of them have Jakarta identity cards," he said.

He also denied that public order officials razed the homes,
tents and property of the 74 families in the area bordering the
subdistricts of Papanggo, Sunter Agung and Sungai Bambu.

"They had already removed most of their valuables when we
arrived," Boy said. "We only helped to clear out the remaining
garbage." Some residents were even helped to move out as the
office provided a number of vehicles, he said.

Boy added that it would be difficult for the residents to
prove that they paid military members to allow them to settle in
the former swamp area.

Boy also stressed that the mayoralty warned the residents on
May 22 that the mayoralty was planning to demolish their homes.
That, he said, was a legal basis for the authorities to move in.

However, Djenny Suharso of the City Council's commission for
land affairs, disagreed, saying that the mayoralty is obliged to
issue three formal demolition warnings, not just a notification,
before any buildings can be torn down. (anr)