T

wo weeks after being evicted by the local administration from their homes in Pinangsia, West Jakarta, residents still have no idea where to live.

Gimin, 64, said he was now living on the 12-square-meter site that had been his home for the past 15 years with his 10 family members: wife, four children, one daughter-in-law and three grandchildren.

He admitted that he did not have a legal certificate for his house, but insisted that he was one of the Pinangsia residents who had agreed to move to the Marunda low-cost apartments (rusunawa) compound in North Jakarta prepared by the city administration.

'€œHowever, I arrived at Marunda only to learn that the unit promised to me was occupied by other people,'€ he told The Jakarta Post recently.

According to Gimin, he had repeatedly asked for more information from the people in charge of the apartments, but none of them could provide a clear explanation.

Gimin added that he would stay in the open space until he could get enough money from his daily job as a parking attendant to rent a house.

'€œMy house has been torn down and there is no apartment unit for me; my family has become homeless now,'€ he said.

On May 27, more than 500 officers from the Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) demolished at least 114 illegal buildings and an early-childhood school to make way for the Ciliwung River revitalization plan, evicting hundreds of people.

Officials at the City administration previously stated they had prepared accommodation in four low-cost apartment complexes for the evicted registered residents.

The complexes are the Marunda rusunawa in North Jakarta, Daan Mogot rusunawa in West Jakarta, Komarudin rusunawa in East Jakarta and Pulogebang rusunawa, also in East Jakarta.

However, some residents said there had been considerable difficulties getting into the rented high-rise facilities.

Lisma Nizar, who had lived in a makeshift house in Pinangsia for 25 years, said she had yet to receive a key for an apartment unit even though she had registered her family.

'€œThis is where we live now. Our houses were torn down two weeks ago,'€ she said, pointing to a 4-meter wide street in front of her.

Lisma, however, said she was glad that she had a lot of nice neighbors who let her family use their bathroom facilities.

Another resident, Wilastri, recalled the day of the eviction, which according to her could have been carried out in a more humane manner by the Satpol PP personnel.

She said that without any notice on the eviction day, hundreds of uniformed personnel arrived at their neighborhood at around 8 a.m.

'€œI panicked. I asked them to give me an hour to carry my valuables outside, but they refused and took my property out of my house by force. My cupboard and TV shelves were broken during the eviction,'€ she said.

Wilastri and other residents of RT (neighborhood unit) 9 set up a number of camps beside the debris of their homes and declared that they would not move anywhere until the city administration agreed to sit with them to negotiate a solution to their housing needs.

She said a group of residents wanted to stay on in Pinangsia and would ask the city administration to provide some small space from the evicted area to build new houses.

'€œI work as a teacher in a nearby school. If I have to move to a rusunawa, I will need to find a new
job, which will be too hard for me,'€ she said.