Around 20 scantily clad housewives staged a rally in Tangerang on Wednesday to protest an Alam Sutra housing development blocking the main access to Kampung Dongkal with a concrete wall and landfills.
The housewives simultaneously took off their dresses to protest several workers starting construction of a business complex, dubbed Jalur Sutra, in Pekulonan subdistrict, Serpong district.
The angry housewives threw random objects at several excavating machines around the kampung.
"We can't let this happen. The developer has blocked our kampung with a wall and now they are adding an embankment, leaving no access for us to get in and out," Rosidah, one of the housewives, said.
She said the developer was trying to intimidate some 50 families who still refused to sell their land to the developer at the very low prices offered.
"We just need access in and out of our kampung. Our children need to go to school. The developer cannot confine us here," Sutini, another housewife, said.
Pekulonan subdistrict chief Sulaeman, who came to the scene during the protest, is apparently powerless against the developer. He later tried to calm the housewives.
Alam Sutra public relations manager Lisa Johan denied that the developer blocked access to the kampung.
"What we are just trying to protect the site. The area is being developed into a shopping center with a number of stores built near the village. We will hand the stores over to the owners in
the near future, so we need to protect them," she told The Jakarta Post.
She said the developer had offered to relocate the locals to other places within the Alam Sutra complex, but no agreement had been made. (dre)
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