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Communities join hands to rebuild Kampung Kunir
Communities propose grants to the Jakarta administration to help rebuild the once evicted Kampung Kunir in West Jakarta.
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Children play in the hallway of a temporary shelter built for residents of Kampung Kunir in Taman Sari, West Jakarta on Oct. 3, 2018. (Kompas.com/Rima Wahyuningrum)
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fter being forcefully evicted three years ago, more than 30 families now living in temporary shelters in Kampung Kunir in Taman Sari, West Jakarta, have pinned their hopes of living in permanent houses on help from various communities.
Gugun Muhammad, a community organizer at Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), said the group, along with the Jakarta Urban Poor Network (JRMK), had submitted a proposal to the Jakarta administration in late September and was currently waiting for approval from the City Council.
“We know we cannot rely on the regular provincial infrastructure program funds that are routinely allocated. Therefore, we are looking for grants from the city administration with a total of Rp 14 billion [US$989,000] proposed funds,” Gugun told The Jakarta Post recently.
However, Gugun said, the grants could only be given once, so if the building was damaged later, the responsibility would lie with the recipients of the grants.
Gugun added that in designing the new housing concept, UPC was accompanied by a community of architects engaged in social work called Architecture Sans Frontières (ASF) Indonesia, also known as Arsitektur Tanpa Batas (Architecture Without Borders).
Brahmastyo Puji, an ASF member who also accompanied the development of other kampung including Kampung Kedaung Kali Angke in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, said they had started working on the concept in September and now they only had to convince the administration why Kampung Kunir was a livable place.
“We are compiling better arguments to convince the administration that the location can be a place of residence, such as the fact that it is part of the tourism and heritage area of Kota Tua and the larger structure of surrounding old kampung,” Brahmastyo said referring to Jakarta’s Old Town heritage area, a popular tourist destination.
