East Java Deputy Governor Syaifullah Yusuf urged the Surabaya municipality to stop evicting residents living along the banks of the Kalimas River before finding a housing solution for them.
"The Surabaya mayor needs to hear his residents' aspirations before deciding to evict more people. The municipality also needs to find a fair solution *for riverbank residents* to avoid more social problems like poverty," said Syaifullah in a meeting with some 20 evictee representatives in his office Monday.
On that day, hundreds residents living along the banks of the Kalimas River in Gunungsari, Bratang, Jagir, Panjangjiwo and Semampir subdistricts, staged another rally in front of the governor's office on Jl. Pahlawan, Surabaya.
They demanded the provincial administration urge the Surabaya municipality to stop evicting more people and find a solution for the evictees.
Last week, the municipality evicted residents of around 380 permanent and semi-permanent houses and buildings along the Kalimas riverbanks in Jagir sub-district, Wonokromo district in Surabaya.
Before the eviction, the residents congregated and held a mass prayer on Jl. Jagir to defend their houses, before helplessly watching heavy equipment crush their homes. About 1,900 police and public order officers were deployed to guard the eviction.
According to the chairwoman of the Marginalized People Network (Jerit), Erma Susanti, who voluntarily advocates for residents from Jagir, the eviction caused about 425 families to lose their houses and stalls. As of now, only 16 families have moved to subsidized flats, while the rest still live temporarily with their relatives.
On Sunday evening, Syaifullah held an informal meeting with Surabaya Deputy Mayor Arif Affandi, Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) coordinator Wardah Hafidz, muslim scholar Emha Ainun Najib (also known as Cak Nun), environmental and social activists in the city and about a hundred Surabaya residents, including evictees. They discussed social and economic problems that arose after the eviction.
The meeting concluded the city municipality had to stop evicting people and involve residents in finding a proper solution to the accommodation problem.
Syaifullah also disclosed the 2007 bylaw on Surabaya and Wonokromo Rivers management and the Public Works Ministerial decree No. 380/KPTS/M/2004 were still controversial. Based on the bylaw, about three to five meters of the riverbanks have to be free of any buildings. However in the decree, Home Affair Minister clarified the house free zone along riverbanks had to be a minimum of 11 meters.
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