Nine Residence tenants’ representative A. “Alif” Fimualif said that the tenants were planning to take the matter to court after receiving no significant response from the Lippo Group and the Jakarta administration regarding their complaints.

“We are preparing two legal actions, one to cancel the hospital’s establishment through the State Administrative Court, and a lawsuit in the South Jakarta District Court [seeking damages],” Alif told The Jakarta Post on Thursday, adding that all apartment tenants opposed the hospital’s establishment.

The approximately 100 tenants who live in the units believe the hospital’s establishment violates the Consumer Protection Law by breaching their right to security and safety and by failing to disclose information regarding the emergency hospital. Additionally, they claim that by changing the building’s function from residential to a hospital, the developer violated the 2011 law on apartments.

On April 1, property developer Lippo Cikarang advisor Henry Riady posted on his Instagram account that James Riady, his father and the deputy chairman of Lippo Group, and Caroline Riady, his sister and the executive director of Siloam Hospitals owned by Lippo, had turned Lippo Plaza in Mampang into a Siloam emergency COVID-19 hospital. The post has since gone viral on social media.

The post showed the hospital’s progress from its initial construction. “This is to save lives, malls can be rebuilt again (or you can make new ones), but you can’t replace lives. But after this COVID-19 [pandemic] is over, Caroline, you owe your brother a new mall,” Henry wrote on one of the pictures posted.

The emergency COVID-19 hospital has been operational since early April.

Read also: Family moves to forest to avoid stigma after being examined for COVID-19

Nine Residence tenants, however, said that they had not received any prior notice that their ground floor would be converted into a COVID-19 hospital.

Chantya Arentina, a 23-year-old apartment resident, said that she found out about the hospital’s establishment through social media posts, adding that she had not personally received any written notice from the apartment management as of Thursday.

“When I found out that the building I was living in would have a COVID-19 hospital, I began to wonder if it would be safe staying at home?” she told the Post on Thursday.

Danang Nizar, a 28-year-old apartment resident, also said that he initially heard about the hospital’s establishment through social media. Since then he had moved out of the apartment to stay with his parents because of safety concerns.

“All matters [relating to the hospital] were conducted in a secretive manner, even access to the building is constantly changing and confusing,” Danang said.

Lippo Karawaci spokesperson Danang Kemayan Jati said on April 1 as quoted by kompas.com that Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan had welcomed the help from Lippo Group. A photo handout distributed by Lippo Group showed that Anies visited the emergency hospital on March 31.

On April 6, Danang said that the developer made sure the tenants would not have direct interaction with either patients or medical workers. "Entrances and exits, access to elevators, water supply, electricity, AC supply and others are separate and will not intersect," Danang said on April 6 as quoted by kompas.com. He said the air from the hospital would also not circulate in the living area but would be routed back to the hospital.

The residents, however, have posted a video on Instagram that appeared to show that the hospital and apartments used the same building and access.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Team P9R (@tim.p9r) on Apr 9, 2020 at 2:52am PDT

“This video shows that not only are the [apartments and hospital] in the same building, but they share the same access,” @tim.p9r, the tenant association Instagram account, posted on April 10.

As of Friday, Danang had not responded to the Post’s question about the tenants’ plan to take legal action.