Stop evictions or we reject accountability speech: Roy

Stop evictions or we reject accountability speech: Roy

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) will
withdraw its support of Governor Sutiyoso if he continues to
conduct wide-scale evictions in the city.

"If Sutiyoso does not stop these excessive evictions we (PDI
Perjuangan central board) will order our faction in the City
Council to reject his accountability speech," said the party's
central board executive Roy BB Janis, as quoted by Antara as
saying, on Saturday.

Roy said that the evictions have made the lives of thousands
of people miserable, particularly as they face the onset of the
rainy season and the Muslim fasting month.

PDI Perjuangan chairman Megawati Soekarnoputri threw her
weight behind Sutiyoso in the gubernatorial elections in
September last year. Megawati's support of Sutiyoso was owed to
his alleged ability to secure capital for next year's general
elections.

The chairwoman of the party's Jakarta chapter, Sumiyati
Soekarno, said earlier that the impact of the evictions could see
the party standing to lose around 80,000 votes.

Roy also criticized the poor performance of Sutiyoso's
administration in managing the 2003 Rp 11.5 trillion (US$1.35
billion) city budget. He said that the budget, which is the
largest among other regions, should have been directed at
improving social welfare.

The administration has only spent around 25 percent of the
city budget in the first semester.

Councillor Mardjuan Bakri from the National Mandate Party
(PAN) took a different stance, saying that there had not been any
problems with the methods used to evict residents so far.

"The evictions have been conducted in line with city
regulations," the member of the City Council commission A on
governmental institutions told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The commission plans to summon officers from the city's five
municipalities and the public order agency to seek clarification
due to the mounting public criticism over the violence sparked by
the evictions.

Mardjuan said that he had contacted West Jakarta Mayor Sarimun
Hadisaputra to gather information relating to evictions carried
out within the municipality.

"He (Sarimun) said that his office had warned the illegal
squatters three times before commencing the evictions," he said.

Several mass-evictions in the city have resulted in violence
between residents and public order officers, injuring dozens from
both sides. The eviction of residents in Cengkareng, West Jakarta
resulted in a man being killed and a teenage girl, sexually
abused.