Tension high in Pinang Ranti
Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Five days after receiving final eviction notices, residents of Pinang Ranti in East Jakarta are nervously awaiting the arrival of public order officers.
The eviction notices from the East Jakarta municipality administration were received on Jan. 2 and gave residents 24 hours to dismantle their houses.
As of Wednesday, no officials from the municipality have been seen in the area.
The situation is quiet but tense and the 111 families refuse to speak to reporters without their representative, Bartholomeus Diaz, present.
Diaz said the residents were insisting that they would not leave the land until the Harapan Kita Foundation, which claims to be the legal owner of the land, presented the necessary ownership documents.
"We only demand the foundation show its evidence on the ownership of the land. We have documents saying that we have the right to live on the land.
"If they can show us the documents, we will leave the land without taking any compensation money," he said.
The residents filed a lawsuit against the municipality administration on Dec. 23 with the Jakarta State Administrative Court in response to the proposed evictions. There have been two hearings of the suit.
"But as of yesterday, the foundation has failed to show any evidence," Diaz said.
The families received the first eviction notice from the administration on Dec. 9, followed by a second notice on Dec. 18. The notices state that the land belongs to the foundation, which has granted permission to the Jakarta Military Command (Kodam Jaya) to build a hospital on the 3.06-hectare plot of land.
However, according to Diaz, the land belongs to the family of Emmy Ningtyas de Groot, who passed away in late December.
"Ibu Emmy secured us a certificate to live on the land," Diaz said, displaying a copy of the certificate.
Kodam Jaya has offered each family Rp 3 million (US$353) in compensation, but only eight families accepted the money, Diaz said.
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has acted to mediate between Kodam Jaya and the families, but the two sides have failed to reach an agreement.
Diaz said he would continue to lobby the administration to annul the eviction order.
"But now they (the administration) are trying to intimidate us by placing several unidentified men on every street corner so that we'll leave," said Diaz, adding that he did not have any evidence about who sent the men.
Komnas HAM has repeatedly said that the recent string of evictions by the administration were a violation of human rights. The rights group is currently drafting a more humane eviction policy, along with the National Commission on Violence Against Women and the National Commission for Children's Protection.