Squatters go nowhere after fire

TANGERANG, West Java (JP): Forty five families who planned to move their shacks to make way for a public project have now lost even the remnants for rebuilding.

The fire, which destroyed their homes last Tuesday in the Karawaci subdistrict, broke out shortly after they had accepted compensation to move elsewhere.

Bamboo-plaited walls and straw roofs were some of the precious materials that went up in smoke in the Karawaci Bedeng hamlet. The homes were on the left and right sides of the Cikokol bridge along the Cisadane river.

"How are we supposed to build elsewhere when the compensation is only enough for a piece of land," said Sun Fen, 55, who mourned the loss of piles of wooden planks.

Most residents have sought refuge with relatives, while others are trying to settle in partially set up shacks in Cicadas, the Mauk district, some 15 kilometers from Karawaci.

So far they do not have access to a public kitchen, usually set up with the help of local authorities after a fire.

Unofficial reports said the area was popularly suspected of being a fertile recruiting ground for the banned Communist Party. This is supposed to be the reason behind the lack of help from authorities after the fire.

The gutted site was in a section marked for clearance along the banks of the Cisadane river. Clearance plans were announced in April to residents. They were told they were entitled only to compensation for buildings and plants. This is in line with regency policy which allows no compensation for land affected by public projects.

Residents had agreed to the conditions and been promised compensation on Sept. 21.

Inadequate

However they found their compensation payments were only half the expected amount, and had been cut on the grounds that no one could prove land occupancy since 1948. The receipts they were given for the compensation payments were inadequate too, they said.

A deadline of Oct. 15 had been set for the houses to be torn down. But after they heard eight families had received an additional, and unexplained, 80 percent compensation from authorities, they decided to complain too. There has been no official response.

On Oct. 21 Mayor Djakaria Machmud extended the clearance deadline to Oct. 28.

The fire broke out the next day, after a mayoralty public order official was seen setting fire to the ruins as inhabitants tried to take down their homes, residents said.

Residents said they wondered if it was a deliberate act since authorities had ignored their warnings. (28/anr))