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How activists and artists fight to keep Dago Elos for its villagers
Activists and creative types fought against the land clearing of kampung Dago Elos. Holding activism seminars, concerts, and more to show the urban village’s significance as a cultural hub.
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Haute couture: Participating residents walk down the makeshift runway made from freight pallets during a fashion show at Dago Elos held in celebration of Independence Day on Aug. 17. (Courtesy Dago Melawan Archive) (Courtesy Dago Melawan Archive)
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ctivists and creative types fight against the land clearing of kampung Dago Elos. Holding activism seminars, concerts and more to show the urban village’s significance as a cultural hub.
Dago Elos, an urban village in Bandung, has become quite the epicenter of a heated debacle. Since residents were charged with illegally squatting on lands claimed to be owned by a family of Dutch descent in December 2016, the narrative of its importance as a cultural space has grown significantly.
Activists and creative types, including musicians, artists, literati and the sort, have taken to adopting the area as a cultural space where they hold exhibitions, concerts, discussions and traditional events. They have done this in major part, to show how the area should remain for its residents and not be cleared by developer PT Dago Inti Graha, following the March 29 decision favoring the side claiming to rightly own the land.
Fighting a losing battle
Three hundred and thirty-one households residing in Dago Elos were brought to court by siblings Heri Hermawan Muller, Dodi Rustendi Muller and Pipin Sandepi Muller on the basis of Eigendom Verponding certificates (a product of land law during the Dutch occupation in Indonesia) owned by their forefather, George Hendrik Muller.
The charges were filed by Dago Inti Graha, a company founded on July 29, 2016 that acquired the rights to the plots of land on Aug. 1, 2016.
Since then, these households have been fighting arduous battles in courts. They lost in the district court and local court and their appeal was rejected in the high court and provincial court.
