Agnes S. Jayakarna, THE JAKARTA POST, SURABAYA | Wed, 07/01/2009 12:16 PM
Hundreds of people evicted last month from the banks of the Kalimas river marched on the Surabaya legislature building Tuesday in support of the council's move to deal with their plight.
The council agreed last week to question the Surabaya mayor over his controversial policy of evicting residents occupying state land, including the Kalimas riverbanks.
The evictees from Baratajaya and surrounding areas demanded the municipality provide an explanation for the eviction that has rendered most of them homeless.
During their peaceful rally, tightly guarded by about 100 police officers, some of the demonstrators performed theatrical acts, like eating raw chickens and breaking open coconuts with their heads, to symbolize the municipality administration's perceived arrogance.
They urged the administration to resolve their problem.
With no homes, most of the evictees are currently in a tenuous situation, and their children face added difficulties getting an education.
Previously, the evicted residents, mainly from riverbanks in the Jagir and Baratajaya areas, had also marched on the council to seek its help for their problems.
Erma Susanti, chairwoman of the Marginalized People Network (Jerit), who are voluntarily advocating for residents, slammed the Surabaya administration for "neglecting" the residents' basic rights to a proper place to live.
The municipality also violated the bylaw on the management of the area along the Kalimas riverbanks, she said.
She added that based on a bylaw, the East Java administration had agreed to allocate land located at least 3 meters away from riverbanks for residential use. However, the Surabaya authorities bulldozed homes built outside the 3-meter radius, despite compliance with the bylaw, Erma said.
Later in the day, representatives of the protesters met with East Java councilors to demand they reject a request to revise the bylaw on riverbank management.
Local resident Hermawan Some said a group had requested the council revise the bylaw to allow the municipality to evict more riverbank residents.
He said the revision was not justified, based as it was on "serving the interests of the municipality".
He said the provincial and municipal administrations should jointly find a real solution to the city's urban problems, rather than blame them on marginalized groups.
