Victims of city-led forced eviction scheme left resigned to their fate

Victims of city-led forced eviction scheme left resigned to their fate

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With anguish written on her face and the cries of her four-
year-old daughter ringing in her ears, Lastri hurriedly wrapped
her belongings in a piece of worn-out cloth as she prepared for
tomorrow morning, when the public order officers would come to
tear down her plywood shack located on the West Flood Canal in
Penjaringan, North Jakarta.

She cooked a meal, consisting of kangkung (leafy vegetables
that grow wild in water) and fish, for her husband and her three
children. After dinner, she wrapped up the leftovers for her
family's breakfast as she knew there would be no time for cooking
tomorrow morning.

After putting her children to bed that Sunday after midnight,
she and her husband fought off their drowsiness and tried to stay
awake, as there was a rumour that the public order officers would
burn down their home.

Using a petromak (lantern filled with fuel) the couple walked
back and forth to their shabby boat that floated on the river 10
meters from their shack. Slowly but steadily they filled the boat
with their belongings: plastic plates, cups, cooking pans and
clothes.

Lastri came to Jakarta 10 years ago from her remote village in
Demak, Central Java. In Jakarta, her husband worked at the fish
market in Muara Angke, North Jakarta.

Her husband earned Rp 15,000 a day at most, barely enough to
feed the family's three children. The eldest was still in grade
four of elementary school.

There were thousands of people living in the slums along the
West Flood Canal. They were very busy that night, packing their
belongings and preparing for the worst the next morning, when the
authorities would tear down their homes.

Lastri's neighbor, Juhari, 60, who operated a getek (a type of
houseboat that was used to make river crossings), had packed his
belongings -- some clothes, a lantern, a cooking pan, two plastic
plates and a mat -- before moving them from his shack to the
getek.

The man, who lived by himself, told The Jakarta Post reporter
who helped him carry his mat, that his getek would be his only
form of shelter if the public order officers demolished his
shack.

Juhari came to Jakarta from Serang, Banten, 25 years ago as a
street beggar. He used the money he saved from three years of
begging to build both his shack and the getek.

In the 1970s the area was quiet. But more and more people from
outside Jakarta came and built slums along the canal.

Juhari could earn at least Rp 10,000 (US$1) a day using the
getek to transport people across the river, from 4:30 a.m. to
10:30 p.m.

"Although it is small, just enough for one person, this getek
is my only means of survival", he said.

Just like Juhari, Lastri and many other people living along
the canal had no idea where they would stay after their homes had
been leveled. They were fatalistic about the imminent destruction
of their homes.

"Well, maybe I could rebuild my shack again from the leftover
debris. I have no choice.... I have no money or family here in
Jakarta", said Lastri.

Meanwhile, the clock continued to tick and when it showed 4:00
in the morning, Juhari, Lastri and other exhausted residents
could no longer fight their tiredness and fell asleep.

At 7:30 a.m., the raucous sound of cars and trucks from the
toll road, located just 30 meters from the shacks, woke Lastri
and her family.

The couple hurriedly brought their children to the well, which
had been dug out as a temporary source of water, for a bath.

They ate the leftovers of yesterday's dinner for breakfast and
left their 12 square-meter home to gather with their neighbors,
discussing what to do when the officers came.

They were still able to joke and tease one another, but within
three hours their laughter would turn to tears.

At 11 a.m., when around 700 city public order officers arrived
at the site, the residents made speeches protesting against the
demolition. But even with tears rolling down their faces, they
failed to prevent the officers from tearing down the shacks.

The officers bulldozed some 600 shacks along the canal.

Many of the residents, however, refused to leave the site and
built new dwellings from the debris of their homes.