'Slum evictions will cause violent conflict'

'Slum evictions will cause violent conflict'

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Urban activists criticized the city administration's plan to
evict Angke river squatters in North and West Jakarta, warning
that it could spark social unrest.

Previously, the city administration announced that some 3,000
families living along the Angke river should move as soon as
possible as the city would start the program of normalizing the
river.

The city will accommodate the squatters in low-cost
apartments. But unfortunately, only those with a legal right live
in Jakarta would be eligible for the apartments. Those who do not
have identity cards will be given Rp 500,000 each in
compensation.

The normalization project, which is expected to be completed
next year, is part of efforts to resolve floods in the
surrounding areas along the Angke river in North and West
Jakarta.

Chairwoman of the Urban Poverty Consortium (UPC) Wardah Hafidz
said while there was no guarantee that the project could resolve
the flood in the areas, its social impact would be unavoidable.

"The majority of the people living along the Angke have no
IDs, therefore if the city administration insists on the plan, I
fear there will be conflicts," Wardah told The Jakarta Post here
on Tuesday.

Separately, Asas Tigor Nainggolan of the Jakarta Residence
Forum (Fakta), focused on urban affairs, shared Wardah's view,
saying conflict could break out as such "discrimination" would
cause jealousy, which would lead the people to violence.

Therefore, he added, the city administration should stop such
an unfair policy in order to avoid problems.

He also expressed his pessimism that the apartments allocated
for those who were evicted from the slums would go to the
targeted people, particularly due to the widespread corruption in
the bureaucracy.

Asas said that the corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN)
practices which had remained a dominant feature of the city
bureaucracy would lead to a condition that only people who could
bribe officials enough would get the flats.

He also said the riverbank squatting was only a minor factor
in causing floods compared with the impact of the corrupt
bureaucracy causing violations against the land-use policy, which
experts say is the greatest manmade cause of the annual disaster.

"I think the city should be more comprehensive in addressing
the flood problems. The eviction of the people in Angke is
further evidence that poor people always become the victims of
the city administration policy," he added.

He said that this year, the city administration allocated Rp
16 billion for the Angke river project, including for
compensation.

Wardah also said that such a policy was not fair.

First, the families, many of whom have been living in the area
since the 1970s, could only receive Rp 500,000 in compensation
because they had no land ownership certificates. While those who
could show certificates would receive compensation as much as the
market price.

Second, the city administration will only offer the low-cost
apartments for people who have Jakarta identity cards, despite
the fact that many others have been living there for a longer
time.

According to Wardah, many people in the slum areas have no
identity cards, not through any fault of their own, but because
they have no access or money to get such documents which very
often require large bribes to still more city officials.

"How can we explain about the people who have been living
there since 1970s, but without IDs. Of course they are not trying
to be delinquent. It is unfair if our humanity is only measured
by an ID card," she added.

She stressed that allowing only those with IDs to live in the
flats meant that only a few people living in the Angke riverbanks
could be accommodated there.