Squatters asked to vacate office of rights body

Squatters asked to vacate office of rights body

JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights said
yesterday 250 squatters who had been squatting in its office yard
for more than three weeks had to leave by tomorrow afternoon.

During a meeting with the Indonesian Non-governmental
organization Network Habitat (INN Habitat) on city planning,
Commission Secretary-General Baharuddin Lopa set a 40-hour
deadline for the squatters to vacate the office on Jl.
Latuharhari, Central Jakarta.

The commission had been condemned by the Asian Regional
Meeting on Eviction and Housing Rights, held in the Cambodian
capital of Phnom Penh early this month, for not fighting for the
squatters' rights to be properly compensated following the
demolition of their shanties in Pancoran Mas, Depok.

Surya Mulandar, the INN Habitat head coordinator, said the
commission had agreed to send a proposal to the Ministry of
People's Housing to provide simple houses to the less than 100
squatters who owned Depok ID cards.

"These evicted people are victims of the mayoralty's
ambivalent development policy," Surya said, adding that the City
administration had allowed them to occupy and build huts on idle
government-owned plots in Depok.

The commission also advised the squatters yesterday that they
could file a lawsuit against the government for the loss of
personal belongings which were confiscated by City officials
during the demolition.

Commission member Koesparmono Irsan said the squatters had the
right to fair treatment from the authorities.

The squatters demanded that the government re-examine a 1972
gubernatorial decree which they say allocated a 28-hectare plot
in Depok for temporary housing for the poor.

Suwandhi Pasaribu, who spoke on behalf of the squatters, said
he doubted the plot they were evicted from was owned by the
government and that the commission had not acted fairly.

But Koesparmono, defending the commission, said the
commission's mission was to pass the squatters' claim on to the
government.

The commission also advised the 250 squatters, who are mostly
North Sumatran, to find alternative shelter so as not to disturb
the commission's working environment.

"Based on Criminal Law Article No. 167, the authorities could
arrest and jail them because they came as unwanted visitors,"
Koesparmono said. The article states that anyone convicted of
unlawful entry is liable to nine months in prison or a Rp 4,500
fine.

Another commission member, Clementino Dos Reis Amaral, said
the commission was still negotiating with the government so the
squatters could receive fair compensation. (10)