How squatters survive evictions

State railway firm PT KAI recently stepped up the eviction of squatters in the city, but just like numerous evictions before, this latest campaign will do little to drive these people out.

Rustono, a 28-year-old garbage collector told The Jakarta Post he had been evicted three times since he first started living next to a railway track in Pisangan, East Jakarta, in 2009. He said he kept coming back.

“I don’t have my own shack. I sometimes stay with friends from my hometown, but most of the time I stay anywhere along the railway line,” he said.

Rustono said squatters in the area refused to leave because they had no place to go.

“People here will run away when public order officers come, but they come back soon after the authorities leave,” he said, adding that there was always an announcement made before raids took place.

Wati, Rustono’s “neighbor”, also from Indramayu, recounted a similar story. She lives with her nephew in a shack made of cardboard, wood and corrugated sheets across railway tracks.

She said she previously had a permanent house alongside the railway track in Jatinegara, but it was demolished three years ago during an eviction. Wati said she decided to go back to Indramayu in 2009, but returned to Pisangan in 2010.

“I built a shack across the railway tracks to make it easier for me to dismantle it when public order officers come and set it up later,” Wati said.

She said she refused to leave because it would be hard for her to make a living. Wati collects plastic cups to sell for recycling.

“Garbage from the neighborhood is dumped here. I can earn around Rp 50,000 [US$ 5.70] a day just picking up garbage,” she said.

Further down the line are piles of sand and gravel for sale. A bajaj (three-wheeled motorized vehicle) driver said the sand and gravel was from Cikeusik and Cirebon, West Java.

A squatter, who wished to remain anonymous, said public order officers frequently raided the sand and gravel business, but the squatters running the trade kept coming back with a vengeance.

Ida, a vegetable vendor at the Sentiong crossing in Central Jakarta who has worked in the area for 35 years said he had weathered multiple eviction raids. She claimed the most difficult time was in 2003 when public order officers destroyed her shop.

Now, Ida says, she was allowed to run her business in the area as long as she did it in an orderly fashion.

“We must find somewhere else to live but we are allowed to do business here as long as we keep the area clean,” she said.

Ida said she paid Rp 50,000 a year to work in the area, Rp 1,000 a day to the local administration and
Rp 10,000 a day to local thugs running protection rackets.

“The newcomers would have to pay up to Rp 100,000 for a spot here,” she said.

Ida said she could not move because she had many loyal customers from the neighborhood. Another lifeline extended to squatters is electricity. Squatters pay Rp 10,000 per month per shack for electricity to local residents who share the power. They also pay Rp 1,000 to bathe and Rp 10,000 to wash their clothes at a public bath.

Udin was born in a shack and survives in the area by doing odd jobs.

“People here used to have permanent houses but they were all demolished in 2005. We now build shacks from cardboard, wood and corrugated sheets.” he said.

Just like others in the neighborhood, he claims it would be difficult to leave.

”We know we are breaking the law because this is not our land, but where else could we go?” he said. (JP/msa)