Sutiyoso reproached for being heavy-handed

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.