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efore entering the Srengseng city forest park in Kembangan, West Jakarta, visitors are welcomed by various decorative plants neatly arranged in the front yard.

The plants are for sale, as the management of the park rents space to plant vendors who display their plants in the front yard of the park and use other spaces inside the park to cultivate their plants.

"We rent the land at Rp 500 (4 US cents) per square meter per month. Every month, they pay Rp 2 million," Gia Driviel, a staffer said about the 4,000-square meter rented land in the 15.3-hectare forest park.

The rows of decorative plants seem to act as the appetizer, while the forest park is the main course.

At the back of the forest is a flower nursery that is so beautiful it is hard to believe that it is located inside the busy capital city.

The serenity and beauty of the Srengseng urban forest, however, is tainted by the ugly sight of illegal dumping along the bank of the Pesanggrahan river.

The flower nursery covers a 1,000-square meter green area and is dotted with red and white roses as well as other kinds of flowers. The nursery remains beautiful even with brand new two-story houses in the background.

Tandi, a security officer at the forest park who lives in the area, said the new houses and the river banks used to be a part of the flower nursery area. As time has passed, though the nursery has become smaller, he said.

Iwan, one of the flower farmers, said the residents had used the vacant land to plant flowers and plants for years and sold the flowers to florist shops in Rawa Belong in West Jakarta.

The flower market in Rawa Belong is the most well-known and the biggest flower market in Jakarta. The West Jakarta administration promotes the market as one of the tourist destinations of the municipality.

The market opens very early in the morning when it receives loads of cut flowers from nurseries outside of Jakarta, besides the one in Srengseng.

"I have been cultivating this land for more than 20 years. We use the vacant land to earn a living," Iwan said.

The 73-year-old man said that although the farmers made agreements among themselves about which plot of land they could manage, they realized they were powerless in terms of ownership.

"We just borrow the land to plant flowers. I don't have the power to forbid any development on this land," he said, adding that he knew the government or the landowner would someday come and ask him to leave.