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ollowing an incident where several residents in Cipinang Besar Selatan low-cost rental apartments (Rusunawa) were evicted from their residences due to allegations of drug abuse, the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) and the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) inspected the apartments on Friday out of concerns for the evictees’ family members.

The residents who tested positive for drugs in November 2017 were Rudi, Amsori and Denny, who lived in different apartments on different floors. However, their evictions also affected their family members, including Rudi’s parents, who lived in a different apartment.

Rudi, Amsori and Denny were living in the apartment building with their families. Both Rudi and Amsori have three children, while Denny has two.

Prior to their evictions, Rudi and Amsori worked as a security guard and a technician, respectively, in the apartment building. They allegedly consumed methamphetamine and amphetamine and had gone through rehab several times since November last year. The apartment building’s management prohibited them from entering or renting any city-run Rusunawa for 10 years.

The legal grounds for their eviction is Gubernatorial Decree No. 111/2014 on low-cost apartment contract mechanisms. Article 7 of the low-cost apartment rental agreement states that tenants are not allowed to take part in illegal drug-related activities such as production, consumption or distribution.

Commenting on the issue, Agustino Darmawan, head of the Jakarta Public Housing and Public Buildings Agency, said the regulation was created to prevent the distribution of illegal drugs in the apartment building.

“We are afraid that the drug users’ family members will continue the drug-related activities if they stay in the [apartment],” he said. “Think of it as an early warning,” he added.

Charlie Meidino Albajili, an assistant public defender from LBH Jakarta, said his institution and the KPAI were concerned about the family members of the drug users because to date, they did not have permanent places to stay.

“We are especially worried about the children, because they had to bear the consequences of their parents’ actions,” Charlie said.

“We appreciate the city administration’s attempt to punish the drug users accordingly; however, we didn’t see any need for the administration to punish the family members as well, seeing as how they weren’t even involved in the illegal activities,” he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Susianah Affandy, the KPAI’s commissioner on social issues and children in emergency affairs, said her organization had already cooperated with the Social Affairs Ministry to provide support for the evicted children if needed.

“They had been evicted from their house once and decided to stay in the apartment since they couldn’t afford a new house,” Susianah said.

She said the government should make it possible for the Rusunawa’s management to hand over the rental rights to a family member of the drug user if cases like this occurred in the future.(dpk)