Setu Antap locals evicted from homes

Multa Fidrus ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Tangerang   |  Fri, 05/02/2008 1:33 PM  |  City

NO WAY: Evicted residents and members of the group Students Against Violence occupy a road to block public order and police officers from bringing in a bulldozer to demolish houses around Lake Setu Antap on Wednesday.(JP/Multa Firdaus)

The Tangerang regent administration evicted 250 residents living around the bank of Lake Setu Antap in Rempoa subdistrict, East Ciputat district on Wednesday.

Public order officers, escorted by the police and the military, dismantled the houses despite a brief sit-in protest staged by a number of activists from the Anti-violence Students association.

"We have done all we could to keep our homes. Now we leave it all up to God," Nukman, 48, a resident who has lived in the area since 1981, told The Jakarta Post.

The residents said they had tried to negotiate with the administration about the eviction as the land had been sold to a developer to build a town house complex.

In the eviction order signed by regent Ismet Iskandar on April 17, 2007, the administration stated that the land had been bought by Darnelis, the mother-in-law of Din Syamsudin, who chairs Muhammadiyah, the second largest Muslim organization in Indonesia, Nukman said.

The businesswoman died of a heart attack in 2006.

"It's hard to believe that the lake, a state asset, was sold to a developer. If we were told to move by the Banten provincial Water Resources Management Center (BPSDA) for environmental reason, we would do so immediately," Nukman said.

Another resident, Bambang Setia Budi, 49, said he was offered Rp 10 million as compensation for his house but like many others, was not willing to take the money at all.

"All residents realized that the land belongs to the BPSDA and therefore we refused to leave our homes just for the interests of business," he said.

BPSDA chairman Joko Suryanto said his office had not sold the lake to any individuals.

"Setu Antap is a state asset and still functions as a water catchment area," he said.

However, Tolib Effendi, head of the Tangerang regent public order agency who lead the demolition, said the eviction aimed to restore the lake's function as a water catchment area.

"The eviction is in line with the ongoing river and lake revitalization program funded by the central government," he said, adding that the lake had not been sold to a property developer.

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