R

anto Poltak Tambunan, a 48-year-old resident of Bukit Duri, South Jakarta, looked dazed as an excavator escorted by 550 personnel from the Jakarta Police and Public Order Agency tore down his and his neighbors’ houses brick by brick on Wednesday morning.

Sadness struck him that sunny morning as he realized that his home and neighborhood where he was born, raised and lived were now only ruins. “I was born here in 1968, I have spent all of my life here,” he told The Jakarta Post.

Ranto, who has moved his belongings to a boarding house in Senen, Central Jakarta, recalled some of the most precious memories he had with other residents. “The social bond within the neighborhood was really strong, especially when we got together for gotong-royong [communal self-help],” he said.

The same sentiment was also expressed by Ucok, 21, who was actively involved in activities organized by Sanggar Ciliwung Merdeka, an organization that had been dedicated to empowering Bukit Duri residents since 2000. Ucok said he was most upset by the demolition of the organization’s hall.

“Bukit Duri’s young people found the right place to release their energies at Ciliwung Merdeka’s hall. We frequently sang and played guitar there,” he said, adding that the youths would keep the relationship intact as long as the organization still existed.

Most local youths had strong ties with Ciliwung Merdeka as it held many activities like dancing, singing and theater performing.

Bukit Duri is only one of dozens of urban villages that have been wiped out by the city administration’s clearance program.

The disappearance of these disorganized yet lively villages has also erased many values that helped their residents not only to survive and but also thrive despite being disfranchised in many ways, including through a lack of property rights.

The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) has recorded that the city administration conducted 113 clearances last year, affecting 3,433 families. The 113 clearances involved the destruction of 8,145 houses and 6,283 small enterprises. According to the LBH, most of the residents had lived more than 30 years in their homes before being evicted.

This year, the areas that have been cleared include Pasar Ikan in North Jakarta, Kali Jodoh in West Jakarta a former red-district district, and Rawajati in South Jakarta.

The Rujak Center for Urban Studies says that at least 10 other areas are due for clearance as most of them occupy state land or they contravene the spatial plan of the city administration.

Meanwhile, relocation to low-cost apartments does not necessarily solve the residents’ problems.

Irmawati, 23, who was relocated from Pluit to Muara Baru low-cost apartments (rusunawa) in North Jakarta, said that when her husband lost his motorcycle, she suddenly missed her old neighborhood.

“We usually took care of each other. Although we were poor, we were rarely robbed as the neighbors
usually cared for our belongings,” she said.

Abidin Kusno, an urban culture expert from the University of British Columbia in Canada, said that Jakarta was likely to become a less inclusive city, whose cross-class residents refused to help each other, if its stakeholders continued to reduce urban villages in the capital while developing only upscale properties.

“The evictions show the administration is unwilling to habilitate residents of urban villages. They should realize that they’re dealing with people who have built their living strategies and relations over a long time,” said Abidin.

“It’s a complex issue that cannot actually be accommodated in high-rise residences, like rusunawa [low-cost apartments],” he said. (adt)