Public bathrooms for Tangerang

Public bathrooms for Tangerang

TANGERANG: A delegation of the Indonesia-Netherlands Joint
Committee for the Repatriation of Maluku People (Panmal)
inaugurated on Tuesday 12 public bathrooms (MCK) in Neglasari
subdistrict, Tangerang.

Construction of the public bathrooms, costing Rp 150 million,
was financed by the joint committee, which felt concerned about
public sanitation in the subdistrict as most of the locals
reportedly had no bathroom.

Poverty has caused most of the locals, who live near Soekarno-
Hatta International Airport, to depend on Cisadane river water
for their daily washing and bathing needs, including defecating.

"We feel concerned about the local people who live far from
good sanitation facilities here. We hope the construction of this
MCK will lead the people to a better awareness of a healthy
environment," committee coordinator Henk H. Hoek, who led 10
other delegates, told The Jakarta Post.

The joint committee was founded in 1975. In its agreement with
the Indonesian government, known as the Wasnaar Conclusion, the
Netherlands government promised to help with the repatriation of
Maluku people who had escaped the country and lived in the
Netherlands.

Before the agreement was due to end, on Dec. 31, 2003, he said
hundreds of Maluku people had been returned to the country.--JP