He said he would wait until the end of the presidential election period.

“We don’t know what our fate will be. We realize that we live on state-owned land, and this land will be used soon,” the kampung’s neighborhood unit (RT) head told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Hidayat and more than 540 other families live on a 700-square-meter plot of land known as Kampung Bayam, which literally means spinach village, as the majority of residents in this kampung used to farm, mostly spinach.

The slum neighborhood stretches about 700 meters on the northern side of the Jakarta International Stadium, also known as BMW Park, near railway tracks and a canal.

To make way for development, the Jakarta administration has plans to relocate the residents, who have been settling in the area since the 1980s.

They had been evicted in 2008 during Fauzi Bowo’s governorship but had chosen to stay in the area and built semipermanent housing right beside a railroad.

“We experienced eviction in 2008, and that was bad and inhumane. We want to be treated as humans even though we don’t own this land. We’re human after all,” Hidayat said.

“Now all the residents are worried. They’re afraid of being evicted once again and becoming homeless,” he added.

Komaruddin, a leadership figure in the kampung, said the residents were supportive of the stadium construction and ready to be relocated, but they hoped to be moved to an area near their current neighborhood, as some of them had jobs nearby.

However, he added, they had yet to receive any information on the matter from the administration.

“We demand clarity about our houses. We will wait until the election season ends. I know the administration must be busy,” Komaruddin said.

“If they build the stadium without relocating us beforehand, we would not move and stay here,” he added.

Komaruddin said the residents wanted to be treated like those evicted from Kampung Akuarium in North Jakarta. The Jakarta administration decided to rebuild it in the same spot it was before the eviction in 2016.

“If the administration could rebuild Kampung Akuarium, they should also rebuild ours,” Komaruddin said.

He said the administration could help them build a kampung deret (kampung of row houses), situated alongside the stadium grounds.

“They also can create job opportunities. We can cook, secure the area, or be construction workers,” he said.

On March 14, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan held a groundbreaking ceremony at the stadium site, which will serve as the new home turf of the Persija Jakarta soccer club.

The project, which is estimated to cost Rp 5 trillion (US$352 million), will be carried out by city-owned developer PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro). The administration aims to complete construction work by 2021.

Cranes are seen at the project site but there is no ongoing construction yet.

“We’re about to start the construction in the next few days,” said a worker at the site.

City secretary Saefullah said the construction would be carried out without having to wait for the Kampung Bayam residents’ relocation.

“No, we will carry on,” Saefullah said on Tuesday, as quoted by tempo.co.

Saefullah said the administration already had a special team to discuss the relocation with the residents.

He added that the North Jakarta mayor was still recording the number of houses and family heads in the kampung, as they would be given an option to move to a low cost apartment (Rusun).

“I think the solution would be relocating them to a Rusun,” he said. (ggq)

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