W

ith Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama having set his sights on the Bukit Duri area, South Jakarta, as the next target for evictions, a number of local people have become aware that they would have no other choice but to count down the days to their removal from their homes.

However, the residents hoped that unlike the forced evictions in Kampung Pulo that turned violent last month, the evictions in their neighborhood could be carried out without any trouble and the city administration would fulfill its promise to provide them with alternative housing.

Sanol, a 40-year-old woman, sat on a wooden box in front of her house located 4 meters away from the banks of the Ciliwung River, saying that she had started to accept the hard truth that her family would be relocated in the near future.

'€œWe won'€™t stand any chance if we fight anyway, so we might just leave peacefully as we don'€™t want the Kampung Pulo incident to happen here as well,'€ she told The Jakarta Post.

On Aug. 20, a few hundred meters from her house, several youth from the area were involved in a clash with more than 2,000 members of a joint troop of the National Police, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP).

The clash caused injuries to several residents and troop members, but Eko Prasetyo, a 22-year-old resident of Jatinegara, East Jakarta, has been undergoing intensive medical treatment since he received a heavy blow to his head during the chaos.

Several young people set a backhoe on fire and later the police arrested 27 of them.

Sanol, who locked herself in her house with her family during the clash, said she hoped that there would not be any fighting in her neighborhood and the officers would not use any violence to evict them.

'€œIt was horrible. There are a lot of people injured. I don'€™t want any of my family or friends hurt during the eviction,'€ she continued.

Sandyawan Sumardi, the leader of an NGO called Sanggar Ciliwung Merdeka, which works to empower residents on the Ciliwung River'€™s banks, said the NGO'€™s studio that is located in a house in the Bukit Duri area would likely be demolished in the upcoming evictions.

Sandyawan said he would try to find a new place where he could continue to empower the residents and provide them with legal assistance.

'€œWhat worries me the most is the dozens of homeless children who live in the house studio. We might need a bigger place to accommodate them,'€ he said.

Zaenab, another Bukit Duri resident who lives in a house near the riverbank, was aware that her parents did not have the right to build the house 38 years ago, but as others who live as urban poor have found, it is easier to lose a home than to find another.

Sanol said what worried her most was that she would not get a place in the low-cost rental apartment block as promised by the city administration as she lived in the house with 10 other people from three different families.

'€œI heard that the Kampung Pulo residents received one apartment for each demolished house. I am not sure if 11 people can live in one apartment,'€ she said, adding that she has urged her family not to fight the city administration officers during the evictions.

The government has built 527 low-cost rental apartments for the 1,040 evicted families of Kampung Pulo. Many did not get an apartment while others only received something that was about 30 square meters large, regardless of the size of the family.

Separately, Ahok said that Bukit Duri residents would be relocated to low-cost apartments in Cipinang Besar and Pulogebang, both in East Jakarta. Ahok said that the city had prepared 160 apartments in Cipinang Besar and 150 in Pulogebang.
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