'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)