Residents demand more compensation

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)