Sutiyoso reproached for being heavy-handed

Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Governor Sutiyoso's plan to use more muscle to order the city, including evicting illegal squatters, will not solve his administration's many problems as he only looking for a quick solution and not a real one, activists say.

Coordinator of the Anti Eviction Network, Father J. Sudrijanta, said Friday that Sutiyoso had returned to colonial- era practices when he announced the recruitment of 287 nearly retired military and police officers to help civilian security guards order the city.

"During the colonial times, to conquer an area, usually troops were deployed to burn houses and physically clear the area," Sudrijanta said.

"Sutiyoso never learns. He should have come up with a new vision and not just sought a quick solution like that one," the priest, an activist with the Jakarta Social Institute, told The Jakarta Post.

Many activists have criticized Sutiyoso and his administration for the failure to identify the real problems in dealing with the poor and their illegal housing along river canals. As a result, they use inappropriate methods in dealing with the matters.

Recently, extensive evictions were carried out in the city targeting illegal houses along the river canals, becak (pedicab) drivers and street vendors.

The city administration said that evictions along the canals were carried out to prevent flooding which may hit the residents living near the river. Flooding can happen anytime during the rainy season.

Problems could be solved if the administration was willing to recognize the people and let them air their grievances, Sudrijanta said.

"There are examples where people can live along the river canals but such a situation can only be achieved after they are recognized as legal residents," he said.

Coordinator of the Jakarta Residents Forum Azas Tigor Nainggolan also maintained that the Jakarta administration had to stop deploying civilian guards and bulldozers to clear the river canal.

There were three things that could be done by the administration. Revamping the residential areas along the river canals, relocating the people to other locations or to place them temporarily in low-cost apartments, Tigor said.

The viable solutions are to revamp and to relocate, he said.

"With the current budget of Rp 63 billion for security and order (which is often allocated to evict the people), the administration should be able to do one of the solutions."

He believed that the administration was reluctant to do so because there was not much money that could be corrupted.

"The funds to conduct evictions can be easily embezzled by the officials," he told the Post.