Riverbank squatters demand fair compensation

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.