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Jakarta’s Kampung Bayam residents lament uncertainty amid political transition
To this day, the inauguration of the low-rise apartment building remains the closest Kampung Bayam residents have got to their supposed new home.
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Houses in Kampung Bayam, in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, evicted on Nov. 1, 2020. (Shutterstock/infiksjurnal)
F
rom the tent he has been sleeping in for the past three months, Asep Suwenda could just make out the silhouette of Kampung Susun Bayam (KSB).
The city built the low-rise apartments dubbed "vertical village" to house the displaced Kampung Bayam residents whose homes were demolished in 2020 to make way for the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS) in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.
But four months since the construction of the building was completed, and almost as long as the five-month construction process that started in May and ended in October, Asep’s fate remains in limbo.
City-owned PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro), which was in charge of construction, has yet to allow the Kampung Bayam residents to move in.
“We already have the decree [from the mayor’s office] stating that we could move in, and each family already has received their designated units from Jakpro. [...] Technically, we’ve fulfilled all the necessary requirements,” Asep told The Jakarta Post on Feb. 9.
As head of the Kampung Bayam Residents Brotherhood (PWKB), Asep represents 75 out of the 123 displaced Kampung Bayam families that were set to move into KSB after former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan inaugurated the building on Oct. 12.
But to this day, the inauguration remains the closest the Kampung Bayam residents have got to their supposed new home. Asep and several residents have since resorted to living out of a tent set up in front of the gates leading to Kampung Susun Bayam, located right next to the grandeur of JIS.
