Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang, Friday, July 18, 2008
International NGOs have recently spoken out against the eviction of families from their homes near Lake Setu Antap, Tangerang.
"We condemn the forced eviction, on Apr. 30, of 35 families living around Setu Antap," Bret Thiele, rights litigation program coordinator of the Geneva-based Center on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), said in a July 8 letter to Tangerang regent Ismet Iskandar.
COHRE urged the Tangerang administration to ensure adequate compensation for loss of home and livelihood for the evicted residents, as well to provide housing for the families.
Representatives from the organization will come to Indonesia to meet with regent Ismet Iskandar and discuss the matter in mid-August, Thiele said in his letter.
A similar letter was sent to Raquel Ronik, special rapporteur for the UN High Commission for Human Rights; President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; Banten Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah; Ifdhal Kasim, chairman of the National Commission for Human Rights, and to the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, Thiele added.
On Apr. 30, the Tangerang regency administration evicted 250 residents living around Lake Setu Antap.
Public order officers, escorted by some 400 police officers and the military, dismantled the residents' houses, despite a brief sit-in staged by locals and backed by a number of activists from the Anti-violence Students Association.
In the initial eviction order, signed by regent Ismet Iskandar in April 2007, the administration stated the land around the lake had been bought by a woman named Darnelis. Residents later found out Darnelis had died and her heirs had inherited the land.
Ismet then issued another eviction order on Apr. 17, 2008, stating the eviction was aimed at restoring the lake's use as a water catchment area.
Despite being forcibly evicted, some families continue fighting for their rights to the state land, occupying partly demolished houses around the lake or nearby tents.
"We won't leave our home, even though it has been demolished, because this is the state's land.
We have been living here for 20 years. We don't want to move for the benefit of a private owner," Bambang Setiabudi, a member of one of the eight families squatting on the lake bank, said Thursday.
Bambang now lives in a tent near the lake with his two children, his house having been completely demolished.
Darwis, another resident, said he and seven other neighbors -- Ustad Rais, Faturahman, Fatoni, Rokim, Muhlis, Parno and Bambang Setiaudi -- had frequently received threats for occupying the land.
"The most recent threat we received was from the South Jakarta Police. We were summoned to police headquarters, following a report filed by Sarmidi Purba," he said. "Sarmidi Purba is a lawyer for the late Darnelis."
Ismet Iskandar said there was no private developer interested in the land.
"The eviction was in line with the ongoing river and lake revitalization program funded by the central government. The lake was never sold to a property developer," Iskander said.
Earlier, regency councilors asked Ismet where he received the funds from to evict the Setu Antap residents. Councilors said they could not identify any eviction program in the 2008 regency budget.
"The regent asked for two weeks to prepare his answer to this question," said council deputy speaker Arif Wahyudi, of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
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