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No money, nowhere to go: Asylum seekers opt to remain in temporary shelter in West Jakarta
Nearly 400 asylum seekers have rejected the allowance provided by the UNHCR and have chosen to remain in a temporary shelter in West Jakarta.
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Officials record the data of remaining asylum seekers in a temporary shelter in Kalideres, West Jakarta, on Sept. 5. (Antara/Rivan Awal Lingga)
F
or refugee Qadratullah, residing in a temporary shelter in Kalideres, West Jakarta, for the last several weeks has been more challenging than ever, with no running water, electricity or food to help him through the day. But, he opts to remain in the former building of the West Jakarta Military District Command (Kodim) despite a request from the Jakarta administration to vacant the shelter.
Qadrat, who fled his home country of Afghanistan, said he preferred to stay at the shelter and had rejected the allowance provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He said the allowance was not enough to help him survive while he had no idea where he could go after the allowance ran out.
“The UNHCR only offered us around Rp 1 million [US$ 71], it’s not enough. Where will we go after the money runs out? The UNHCR had said that we’re not allowed to sleep on the streets or to go back to Kebon Sirih anymore,” he told the Jakarta Post on Saturday in fluent Indonesian, referring to the UNHCR’s office in Central Jakarta.
Qadrat, who has been living in Indonesia for the last seven years, said living in the shelter had become difficult but it was his best option at the moment.
“We’ve had no electricity or water supply in the shelter since last week. We only have one functioning toilet, so we have to go to public bathrooms and pay Rp 2,000-3,000 to shower or to do laundry. I shower only once every two days to save money. The conditions are bad here but I have nowhere else to go,” he said.
Hundreds of refugees were relocated in mid-July by the administration after several weeks of camping on sidewalks across the UNHCR’s office to demand that the UN agency speed up their asylum applications.
