Squatters left with nothing after fire, eviction

Indah Setiawati ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 10/06/2008 9:59 AM  |  City

HOME STREET HOME: Residents of the Pedongkelan slum area are sitting on the sidewalk under an elevated highway on Sunday, where they sleep and sell food to pedestrians. (JP/Indah Setiawati)

A fire that struck their home in August claimed most of their belongings, but their eviction by the city administration on Saturday finished the job.

Dozens of evictees in Pedongkelan, East Jakarta, had to spend the night under an elevated highway.

"Where else should we stay? We don't have money to rent rooms and we don't even have enough to buy food," Siti Tugini, a mother of seven children told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Squatters and urban activists protested the administration Saturday as it cleared the slum area of all residents, but to no avail.

Siti said her family had no where to live and no means to pay for shelter after the East Jakarta administration had cleared squatters in the area to make way for a project to enlarge the nearby Ria Rio dam to prevent flooding.

The administration had promised to pay all squatters in possession of identity cards Rp 1 million (US$107.5) to help them secure new residences.

The eviction plan was announced in 2003. At the time, the site was occupied by 199 families.

However, the plan was delayed due to financial constraints, allowing time for more squatters to settle.

Siti said she and other families would stay on a sidewalk under the elevated highway until they could decide where to live.

"If the public order officers come here, we will move," she said.

The administration had suggested to the families that they move to the low-cost Marunda apartment building in North Jakarta, but Siti and her neighbors declined.

"First, we don't even have enough money to pay the rent and second, we work around here and the apartment is just too far."

Siti earns Rp 600,000 each month by sweeping a nearby street that runs into Jl. General Ahmad Yani every day.

The majority of the squatters in the area are street vendors, buskers and beggars.

Sarito, also an evicted squatter, said he and his family had managed to stay in possession of their food cart and a glass shelf.

They will continue to sell gulai (lamb with coconut milk sauce) and soft drinks on the sidewalk near their soon-to-be destroyed former neighborhood.

"Most of our belongings were demolished in the fire. I hope we can still stay here, but if we don't, we will go to my cousin's house in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta," said Sarito, who lived at the site for 10 years.

Siti's and Sarito's families lost most of their belongings in a fire that swept the site on Aug. 25.

"All we have left is our important documents, including our Jakarta ID cards," Siti said.

Sarito said he and his family would sleep on a bench near their food cart.

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