Rawasari Timur traders will get no compensation

Rawasari Timur traders will get no compensation

JAKARTA (JP): Central Jakarta mayor Abdul Kahfi said yesterday
that there will be no compensation for traders of Rawasari Timur,
Central Jakarta, whose houses will be demolished to make way for
the construction of public facilities.

"The mayoralty will not give any compensation for the second
time because we gave it to the traders in 1989," Abdul Kahfi told
reporters on the steps of city hall, adding that he did not
remember the number of families who had been compensated.

Thirty traders from the market went to the City Council for
the second time yesterday to protest the South Jakarta
mayoralty's plan to demolish their houses today.

"We received the third demolition letter which said that the
Cempaka Putih district is going to demolish our houses tomorrow,"
Syaifulman, spokesperson of the delegation, told the City
Council's Commission A which is in charge of government, security
and public order affairs.

The letter said that the land on which the traders built their
houses and shops belongs to the city administration and is
earmarked for public purposes, such as sidewalks, parks and
gutters.

The residents said that they are willing to leave the site as
long as they receive compensation from the Central Jakarta
mayoralty.

The residents claimed that most of them have stayed on the
site for a long time. "I have been opening my shop and living
there for 20 years," Syaifulman said.

Sitorus, another trader, said that they initially lived in the
area as ordinary settlers before converting their houses in
stages into shops in line with the increasing number of
neighbors.

Last year, they said, seven families received compensation
ranging from Rp 1.5 million (US$688) to Rp 7 million depending on
the width of their houses.

The figure contradicts the mayor's statement that all
residents received the money.

Mistake

Kahfi admitted that his office made a mistake in allowing the
traders who have received money to remain at the site after
receiving the compensation in 1989.

"We have appropriated the land and paid compensation to the
residents in 1989," Kahfi reiterated, adding, "This is our
mistake because we did not construct fences to protect the land
after the compensation was paid."

He also said that an increasing number of newcomers are
residing at the site.

Kahfi said his mayoralty actually had offered these traders
the opportunity to move to the Rawa Kerbau market, but that this
offer was turned down.

Chairman of the commission M. Aman noted that based on
residents' complaints, the Central Jakarta mayoralty made two
mistakes: First they did not quickly demolish the shops to
relocate traders to the Rawa Kerbau market.

"The second is that the residents in the area are required to
pay land and building taxes, which assumed that the mayoralty
had legally recognized the existence of their buildings," Aman
said. (yns)