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)