Tembok Bolong: Portrait of urban poverty
Tembok Bolong: Portrait of urban poverty
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Sadum, a semi-employed 55-year-old man, lives with his wife and
five children in his five meter by seven meter semi-permanent
home on disputed land on the Tembok Bolong coast, Penjaringan
district, North Jakarta.
To support his family, he works as a porter at Sunda Kelapa
port, one kilometer from his house. If he is lucky he can earn up
to Rp 20,000 per day, but sometimes he earns nothing.
"I was forced to live here after my small business in Pasar
Ikan went bankrupt two years ago. Now I work as a porter with an
uncertain income," Sadum told The Jakarta Post here on Sunday.
Sadum's family is just one of 370 low-income families living
illegally in the slum area. Most of the people work as small
vendors, porters, drivers of Becak (three-wheeled pedicabs),
fishermen or run other businesses in the informal sector.
On Sunday, about 50 delegates from the Asian People's Dialog
II, running in Jakarta from Saturday to Thursday, visited the
slum area.
Sadum said he has eight children. Three of them have been
married and now live separately from him. But with his current
income, it is difficult for him to buy daily necessities for his
seven family members.
Two of his children who live with him are still in elementary
school, two have completed elementary school, while his youngest
child is a three-year old boy.
"I never dreamed of sending my children to junior high
schools. I cannot afford it. Even to meet our current expenses I
have to work very hard," said Sadum.
Sadum said every month he had to pay Rp 17,000 for the two
children's school fees alone. That did not include transportation
costs and their pocket money.
He also has to spend Rp 2,000 to buy as many as 25-liter
jerrican of clean water as he cannot use the salty ground water
for the daily needs of the family, including cooking and washing
dishes and clothes.
"I have to buy water from people whose houses are linked to
the clean water network. There are people who sell it door to
door, but the price is far more expensive," said Sadum, who left
his hometown in Brebes, Central Java, in the 1960s.
Sadum's statement was confirmed by Sarya, 51, who has been
living in the area for four years. The vendor of mung bean
porridge said the six jerricans of water needed for his family of
four children each day cost Rp 2,200 from door-to-door vendors.
"We cannot use the ground water here, even for washing our
clothes as it is very salty," Sarya told the Post, adding that he
earned between Rp 15,000 and Rp 20,000 per day selling porridge.
People in this area not only face difficulties just supporting
their families, but also face possible evictions. Being illegal
residents, they can be evicted from their homes at any time.
"We have been threatened several times with evictions, but
luckily we're still here. But I don't know for how long.
"We hope that we will not be disturbed again," said Sadum, who
said that he could buy the land for Rp 1,000,000 from a woman
known as Ida, though there would be no supporting documents.