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Residents condemn arrests in Kodam Jaya housing eviction
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Military personnel guard the evictions of some residents of the Jakarta Military Command (Kodam) Jaya housing complex in Tanah Kusir, South Jakarta on May 9. (kompas.com/David Oliver Purba)
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esidents of Jakarta Military Command (Kodam) Jaya housing complex in Tanah Kusir, South Jakarta, condemned on Thursday the detention of four during a recent protest against evictions in the area.
Dozens of residents took to the street and burned tires on nearby Jl. Arteri Pondok Indah on Wednesday to resist evictions from several houses by military personnel. They refused to be evicted by force since a lawsuit on the case was still under court examination.
The South Jakarta Police detained four residents involved in the protest, but later released them.
"We are reporting the case to [the Army's internal affairs division] today and will send a letter to President [Joko "Jokowi" Widodo] to notify of human rights violations [in the detention]," said Dewi Rizki, a representative of the residents.
Kodam Jaya was planning to evict the occupants of 30 houses in the complex as, based on the military's claim, the houses belonged to them. Currently, neither military personnel nor former personnel live in the houses. Some of them were rented out or occupied by children of former personnel.
The Wednesday protest caused traffic jams on Jl. Arteri Pondok Indah and nearby areas.
The East Jakarta District Court has ruled in favor of the military in the property dispute. But on March 13, the residents filed an appeal to contest the court's ruling and continued to challenge the military's ownership of the Kodam Jaya housing area. (vny/cal/wit)
