Riverbank squatters demand fair compensation
Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, jakarta
Squatters along riverbanks across the city expected the administration to give them alternative homes or sufficient compensation to move from the prohibited areas.
A man who lives at Ciliwung riverbank in Kampung Melayu area, East Jakarta, insisted that he had built his temporary home without any complaint from the subdistrict officers or other agencies of the city administration.
"There was no objection from subdistrict officers when we erected our house, so we took it as a kind of permission," said Sarjo, 45, adding that he had paid some Rp 500 thousand to a subdistrict officer 10 years ago when he built the house.
"This house is legal. I don't want to move from here unless the administration gives me alternative accommodation or sufficient compensation," said Sarjo, who has been living on the river for over 10 years.
He and his family occupied a 20 square meter site on the Ciliwung riverbank. Like other houses nearby, his house was made of wood. However, several of his neighbors built houses of concrete.
There are three rooms in Sarjo's humble abode. His family with two children use two of them, and the other he rents out for Rp 50 thousand per month.
Sarjo said he and his neighbors built houses there because they did not have money to buy land in other legal residential areas.
"I prefer the administration to provide us alternative places because a house price in the kampong (residential areas) is very expensive nowadays", said Sarjo, who came from Pati, Central Java.
Separately, settlers who reside on the riverbank in Tegal Parang subdistrict in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, expected adequate compensation if the city administration plans to demolish the slum area peacefully.
"I don't object to the plan (to demolish the dwellings), as long as I will still have a place to live and be able to make a living," said Siti Nurhayah who has been occupying her makeshift house for the past 8 years. Thus far, she has yet to decide the proper amount of compensation she thinks is sufficient.
Siti, a free-lance refuse recycler, who comes from Subang in West Java, said she came to Jakarta to make a better life and that is why she chose the riverbanks.
Her neighbor Sartono who has been living in the area since 1973 cited similar reasons.
Sartono who claimed that he does not have a land certificate for his piece of land, said that he has a letter from the District office confirming the land as his property.
He told The Jakarta Post that he has been warned that his place might be demolished in the future when he was about to purchase the piece of land, but he did not mind.
"At that time it was the only piece of land I could afford. I'm aware that I can't stay here forever, but I hope the city administration will give us proper compensation," he said.
Meanwhile, according to one urban architect, Marco Kusumawijaya, the government must be able to provide a solution to the city's housing problem especially for the urban poor.
"The government should be able to provide alternatives for its people in regard to housing problems. By simply demolishing the slums without providing alternatives will not solve the problem." he commented.
The chairman of the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) told the Post that the city administration never considers the urban poor as part of the city.
"The administration provides no space for the urban poor in the city. No wonder, they finally occupied lands in forbidden areas," Azas Tigor Nainggolan, the chairman, told the Post.
According to Tigor, the administration should not demolish houses at riverbanks unless it provides other places to accommodate them. "Demolition is not a way out. It will only create new problems in the future," he said.