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Evicted entrepreneurs plan on regaining productivity
Dozens of entrepreneurs who lost their assets in forceful evictions hope to regain their productivity in their new homes in the low-cost rental apartment Rusun Pesakih in Kalideres, West Jakarta
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Dozens of entrepreneurs who lost their assets in forceful evictions hope to regain their productivity in their new homes in the low-cost rental apartment Rusun Pesakih in Kalideres, West Jakarta.
Forty-six evicted families from Pos Duri and 21 from Rawa Buaya in West Jakarta have inhabited the newly built housing block for two months but many have yet to reach their previous levels of productivity after losing their business to the evictions. In fact, most of them have fallen into poverty, having received almost no assistance ' save for a six-months waiver of rent ' in the aftermath of their dispossession.
Most of the 67 families were productive entrepreneurs who had for decades built their small-scale businesses and raised families in the houses they built on the riverbanks. Some worked hard to send their children to university.
After the West Jakarta administration destroyed her house on Sept. 10 this year, Saliyem was worried sick that her second daughter's undergraduate certificate would be lost along with the house.
'From 9 a.m., we searched for it. We found it at 5 p.m. under the rubble.
'She graduated from Gunadarma University in Depok in April, majoring in psychology,' Saliyem said, pointing at the graduation pictures hanging on the wall of her apartment. She and her husband, Abdul Kolim, smiled proudly at the pictures.
'Those pictures are the ones we managed to salvage,' she said.
'We lost all of the wares in our electronics shop. They destroyed 10 television units that were being repaired in our workshop. Taking into account our brick house, my family lost perhaps about Rp 200 million in the eviction,' Saliyem said.
'Now my biggest worry is the education of the youngest. We sent her sister to university so we want her to get university education too. And it's not cheap. But we worked hard for it because we don't want our children to be uneducated like their parents,' she continued. Her youngest child is now in 11th grade and the family has less than two years to find the money to finance higher education for her.
Saliyem said that after the eviction, the family was dependent on Kolim's small salary as a security guard at fishery firm Perum Perikanan.
She also found her days dragging on without her business to occupy her, unlike her previous busy life on the banks of the Mookervart River. The situation was exacerbated by the emptiness of the apartment building. Of the total 640 apartment units, only 67 were inhabited.
'Please, don't say our life in this new apartment is nice just because the building is nice. It is nice to sleep in, but what we need is something to earn a living. We don't have any money left, and to start a new electronics shop we would need Rp 25 million to Rp 50 million,' she said.
Rawa Buaya residents for a month lived in relatives' houses or tents before securing eligibility to rent the apartment units, while Duri families waited for a year and a half.
Saliyem revealed that they moved into the apartment after fighting for their right to housing for two months. She said they were grateful, but that the authorities should have assured them new housing before destroying their houses and businesses.
The residents have heard that the ground floors of each of the eight apartment buildings are to be used as commercial areas. The residents, all entrepreneurs, have had some ideas to revive their businesses in the new apartment complex.
Soeketi Hary Susanto, a septuagenarian affectionately known to his neighbors as Pakde or uncle, said many of his neighbors, who had been relatively successful merchants at Duri train station, had been impoverished since their eviction in May last year. One and a half years after the forceful eviction by state-owned railway operator PT KAI, many women now earned a living doing laundry for nearby houses, he said.
His own family has fallen onto hard times. His income now, from collecting and selling small amounts of junk every day, is only enough for his transportation and his cigarettes. Pakde and his wife depend on their children for their daily meals. Pakde used to own seven fried-rice pushcarts and supplied to 20 others. His wife claimed that their income had dwindled to 10 percent of what it was before the eviction.
Yarmiyati, a mother of three adult children, went from being the owner of a profitable kiosk selling clothes at the busy Duri train station to renting a kiosk selling baby apparel at Angke Market. Later, after experiencing slow business at the market, she moved outside to sell dinnerware at the roadside.
'I have sold all my possessions, my showcases, refrigerators, I have nothing now. I have pawned my motorcycle twice, took out a loan from the bank for my capital and then lost it. Sometimes I even beg anyone who has money to spare to buy us food,' she said.
Pakde said all the former residents and merchants at Duri station were united and that they wanted to build new businesses in the apartment complex. They were hopeful for the future, he explained, because when all the units are occupied, there will be 640 families ' comprising thousands of people ' residing there, .
'We have heard that other victims of eviction will be relocated here. This place will be full of people, and we want to build an economy. I hope the government will help us,' Pakde said.
