R

ostiana, 46, lost everything when the city administration demolished her house last December.

She was among dozens of illegal squatters living on the riverbanks of the Sekretaris River in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, whose houses were demolished to make a way for the city'€™s infrastructure program.

'€œI was literally crying to see my house being demolished [...] I have lived here since 1995,'€ she told The Jakarta Post near her house on Wednesday.

The city'€™s demolition work was unfinished, somehow. '€œThe district leader told the officers to stop when it was just half demolished,'€ said Rostiana, who lived with her husband and four children in the house.

After the demolition, there have been no signs of any projects to be carried out at the site, so Rostiana and her family decided to install a roof over the half-demolished shanty house and continue to live there.

'€œI can'€™t even sleep well at night for fear of another eviction but I have nowhere to go. I can'€™t find an affordable house to rent around here,'€ she said.

The eviction, she said, also cost the family her daily income from selling snacks at a nearby school.

Mariah, 51, another squatter who also lost her home, said she had no choice but to live in a tiny room with her mother, sister and child in the neighborhood.

'€œAt least we have a roof to cover us,'€ she said.

Mariah said that the administration had informed the squatters about the eviction plan, but did not set a deadline or give the squatters enough time to prepare or negotiate.

'€œOn Dec. 23, the city demolished my home while I was away in Kalimantan visiting my grandchild. I returned only to see that my home had turned into ruins,'€ she said.

Mariah, too, lost her daily income as she used her home to sell vegetables and was forced to look for a new job.

According to the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation, more than 500 families '€” some of whom were already evicted '€” had been informed by the city administration about the planned eviction. However, they received no information about the timeline.

Some of the residents who lived by the river then decided to demolish parts of their houses themselves to give the required space. However, they still had no clue about the administration'€™s plans in the area.

Ida Hamidah was among those who demolished the back part of her house to make a space as required by the city.

'€œI don'€™t know how the city will use the space but they said they needed about eight meters from the riverbank,'€ she said.

Ida cited that she refused to leave the area or to relocate to low-cost apartments as the city offered.

'€œI have lived here for more than 10 years and I don'€™t want to go upstairs, say, to the fifth floor every day,'€ she said.

Ladi, 61, a local figure, said that he was struggling to support the residents who wanted to stay in the neighborhood.

'€œWe prefer kampung [local village] management, so we don'€™t want to leave,'€ he said.

Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation lawyer Rachmawati Putri said the residents occupying the banks of the Sekretaris River had agreed to a land-sharing option.

'€œThey are willing to live in a smaller space through kampung management, so the administration will have ample space for their projects. This solution requires much less funding than building low-cost apartments to relocate them,'€ she told the Post.

The foundation also voiced concerns about the lack of transparency in eviction programs.

'€œThe authorities did not reveal their detailed plan in the area. Whether they will build an inspection road or at which point they are going to build the road. With such information we would know how many squatters will be affected. But we never know,'€ she cited.