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Land Planning in Jakarta Squeezing Out the Poor
Zubaidah Nazeer - Straits Times Indonesia | March 07, 2011

Madam Wilus, who is in her 80s, has lived in her ramshackle home next to the train tracks, for most of her life. She is now being evicted, with about 800 others. (ST Photo/Zubaidah Nazeer) Madam Wilus, who is in her 80s, has lived in her ramshackle home next to the train tracks, for most of her life. She is now being evicted, with about 800 others. (ST Photo/Zubaidah Nazeer)
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TheSplodge
11:12am Mar 7, 2011

While it is heart-wrenchingly sad to see the poverty that is everywhere in Indonesia and it is equally awful that the people in power care so little for these people, and probably steal more in a month than people like Wilus would need for all their lives, the fact remain that much of the city's problems are caused by wide-spread squatting.

SirAnthonyKnown-Bender
9:34am Mar 7, 2011

Yep, kick 'em all out. Out of sight out of mind ay?

"Some local district heads reportedly give up the land allocated for such projects because the subsidies for them eat into the budget." ...leaving less for them to pinch.

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Madam Wilus lives in a ramshackle dwelling by the railway track in Central Jakarta. Held up by bamboo sticks, its floor is papered over with old newspapers and cardboard.

At night, she relies on kerosene lamps to ward off cockroaches and mosquitoes. Sleeping just 2m from the track, she is constantly awakened by train horns blaring to warn squatters of its approach.

Madam Wilus, who is in her 80s and from a town in Central Java, has endured such conditions with fellow squatter, Mr Sarjo, 69, for as long as she can remember. Her husband and children died 'a long time ago', she says.

Both are among a community of 800 squatters who have slept by and raised families alongside the stretch of tracks for years. But now, rail operator PT Kereta Api has had enough of squatters being hit by trains every few months. It wants them to leave by this week.

Though they will be offered a free ride back to their hometowns, Madam Wilus says she has nowhere to go. She said: 'I can't return home to the village. There is no family left there for me.'

Such evictions have made the news in Jakarta in the past month, a consequence of developers and corporations - driven by an economic boom - jostling for already-scarce land in the congested capital.

Jakarta's government wants to tidy up the dirty sprawl in the city, where poorer folk have set up home next to rivers, under bridges and outside train stations. They cannot afford housing in the capital but stay in Jakarta to earn their living.

Two weeks ago, four women sewed their mouths to protest against what they saw as an unfair eviction from Rawasari, Central Jakarta. They were among protesters who felt they had been lied to when told to clear their 5,000 sq m land in 2008 for a park. Instead, they saw condominium towers being erected.

A special staff member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono criticised the 'inhumane' eviction, saying there should have been more transparency and dialogue between land developers and affected residents.

But Jakarta city government spokesman Cucu Ahmad Kurniawan told The Straits Times: 'The residents knew they didn't have rights to such state land. We explained it to them and the 2008 eviction was carried out smoothly,with advance warning and compensation given.'

Critics have expressed their disgust at the way commercial interests take precedence over helping the poor.

Mr Yosep Adi Prasetyo of the Indonesian Human Rights Commission, said: 'The poor in Jakarta are looked down on as enemies of the state and often, their rights are not respected or fulfilled.'

The city government lacks comprehensive cheap housing plans for those evicted, he added, noting that Jakarta's developments 'are skewed to commercial interests at the expense of the poor'.

Indeed, housing Jakarta's over nine million residents has been a thorny issue, especially relocating squatters who come from outside the city.

Dr Yudhoyono tried to address this in 2007, when he launched an ambitious program to build 1,000 towers of low-cost housing but a local media report said only a third of the target has been met.

The poor do not always accept these homes, which they can rent for 120,000 rupiah (S$17) monthly, because they are either located far from where they work or they lack electricity and water because of shoddy work by developers.

Some local district heads reportedly give up the land allocated for such projects because the subsidies for them eat into the budget.

Meanwhile, with plans to speed up infrastructure projects such as the construction of new roads and an MRT system, evictions are likely to continue.

Later this year, the government will debate a land acquisition Bill to ensure fair compensation for property owners affected by public infrastructure projects.

But this law will not fix the problem of squatters in the city, said Mr Yosep.

'If provincial governments had provided good education, employment and other fundamental programs to care for their community and get them on track to becoming independent, poverty numbers would shrink,' he said.



Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 2553 5055.