Residents demand more compensation

TANGERANG (JP): Hundreds of Tangerang's Kampung Baru residents, who saw their houses intentionally burned to the ground on Wednesday, vowed that they would not leave the area until they received compensation of between Rp 5 million (US$588.2) and Rp 15 million.

"We didn't get the houses and land for free. Before constructing our houses on the site, we paid Rp 100,000 to the security officers as a guarantee that we'd be safe here," Hadi Munasir, 60, one of the residents of Kampung Baru in Karang Tengah subdistrict near Cileduk market, said here on Friday.

"We can't believe that we will only receive Rp 150,000 each. In fact, a number of residents even spent up to Rp 17 million to build permanent dwellings," Hadi told journalists.

He said some 150 unidentified men with jerry cans and canes arrived at the village at 10 p.m. on Wednesday and suddenly doused the houses with gasoline while ordering all residents to leave their homes.

The head of Karang Tengah subdistrict, M. Syarif, had earlier told residents to leave the site as its owner, PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Bogasari Flour Mills, was to construct warehouses on it. In compensation, each resident would be paid Rp 150,000 at his office.

But after receiving the compensation, several residents rebuilt their huts, while others who had not yet left demanded compensation of between Rp 5 million and Rp 15 million.

Separately, Tangerang mayor Mochamad Thamrin explained that the residents were allowed to occupy and cultivate the site after the head of Karang Tengah subdistrict and the head of the then Cileduk district signed a memorandum of understanding with the owner on April 13, 1999, allowing them to use the site until April 2001. (41)