A lack of socializing between neighbors is a reason people dislike living in apartment blocks, but that does not have to be the case, residents and analysts say.

Voni, a 20-something mother, is one Jakartan who prefers high-rise living to the housing complex alternative. She regrets moving from her apartment in West Jakarta to a house in North Jakarta when her second child was born.

"People told us (my husband and me) that houses suited children better, as they have space to run about," Voni said.

"But I am looking forward to selling the house and buying an apartment again. It is such a chore to stay in a home like this. We have to go out for everything,"

Voni claims she had more friends, most of them other young mothers, when she lived in the apartment.

"We called up each other to fix a time to go to the swimming pool together. If we wanted to visit each other, we were only an elevator ride away," the housewife said.

"Whenever I needed to buy stuff or have a meal or even if I was just bored, I went downstairs to the mall and everything was there. My daughter knew the place well also."

Yenni Umiyani, who lives in a middle-class high-rise apartment building in Central Jakarta, said the relationship with neighbors can be maintained as easily as in a housing complex.

"We send food to each other sometimes. During the last Independence Day celebration, we even had a disco together," she said.

"And you can eavesdrop on your neighbors' quarrels sometimes," she added playfully.

However, according to Ibnu Tadji, head of the Indonesian Association of Apartment Unit Owners, most residents just shut their apartment doors to their neighbors, and little effort is made by management or the government to help them build relationships.

"According to a 1995 law and a 1998 government regulation on apartments, the lifestyle led within the apartment should be based upon the character of Indonesia, that is gotong royong (working together), and life in the RT (neighborhood unit) and RW (community unit) structure," he said.

"But there is no RT and RW in apartments, although there are so many households living there. There are no public services such as PKK (a community family welfare organization) or Posyandu (healthcare center)," he said.

The law stipulates that the management of an apartment should be second to the tenants, who can form their own management organization called PPRS.

These organizations are supposed to manage the budget, organize funding and maintain the building by appointing contractors.

"However, the management group is often controlled by the developers who do not want the tenants to band together. They put their people in the management group, charge whatever management service fees they want and extract money from the tenants," Ibnu said.

He said he doubted if any management groups, who were unaccountable when it came to spending, and had no emotional ties to the building, arranged activities for the tenants.

These organizations have in the past reported several cases to police, but they are often thrown out of court.

Even if the cases are won, Ibnu said, the verdict terms were often ignored. His own case, for example, was successful in court after a two-year process, but was eventually ignored by the developer anyway.

"Apartment housing is at the crossroad of social direction. Without authorities' backup for our rights or encouraging us to work together, people will become more individualistic. Is that what we want, or do we want to retain our Indonesian values?" (mri)

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