W. Jakarta evictees refuse to leave, want compensation
W. Jakarta evictees refuse to leave, want compensation
Bambang Nurbianto and Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta
Most of the evicted people who had been living on disputed land
at Kampung Baru, Cengkareng Timur, in West Jakarta, insisted that
they would stay on the land and demand compensation for the
destruction of their homes.
Marlo Sitompul, chairman of Youth Front for the Poor (LPRM)
that advocates on behalf of the people, told The Jakarta Post on
Friday that most families demanded the state-owned housing
company Perum Perumnas to provide adequate compensation that
would at least cover the value of their houses if they were not
allowed to rebuild at the site.
Another solution is to provide the 300 families with new house
from Perum Perumnas without a down payment but they can pay in
installment.
"The negotiation process with Perum Perumnas is still ongoing.
So far we have yet to find a desirable solution," Marlo said.
The families were forcible thrown out after some 3,000 police
and city public order officers bulldozed their houses on
Wednesday causing a clash which resulted in 25 victims being
hospitalized.
Councillor Abdul Azis Matnur from City Council Commission A
overseeing legal and administrative affairs told the Post that
the officials must not simply forget the newly homeless people.
"It's true that the evicted people's legal standing with the
land is weak but the administration must also be responsible for
them after the eviction," he said.
Governor Sutiyoso had said earlier that the eviction would go
on and the people he termed squatters had two choices: return to
their home villages outside of Jakarta or join the transmigration
program, a government program.
Earlier, National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) vice
chairman Solahudin Wahid slammed the governor for his statement
that the eviction was acceptable because there were no fatalities
and the evicted people were not his responsibility because they
did not hold Jakarta ID cards.
According to the head of Perum Perumnas, Didin Sutadi, the
problem started in 1998 when the West Jakarta mayoralty allowed
unemployed people to farm on the neglected 55-hectare plot of
land belonging to the company.
These farmers, Didin said, eventually built houses and "sold"
them to other people. However, the new buyers in Kampung Baru
received what seemed to be a legal document stating that they
owned the land, and based on that asked the mayoralty and the
City Council to delay the eviction.
Residents bought the land from three heirs of the original
owner of the land, M. Yasin, beginning in 1998. The residents
received copies of the land titles, which were supposedly
certified by the National Land Agency in 2002.