Bambang Nurbianto and Evi Mariani, Jakarta – At least 25 families of 50 evicted fishermen in Ancol Timur survived on their boats on Sunday after the North Jakarta municipality demolished their houses a day earlier.
"We will discuss the possibility that the evictees receive priority in getting some of the low-cost apartments that are being developed by the city administration," Hermawanto of Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta), the lawyer of the evicted fishermen, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Earlier on Saturday, for the fourth time in seven years, about 50 fishermen and their families, some 160 people, were evicted by the city public order officers from their makeshift homes in Ancol Timur on Saturday morning.
During the eviction, the only land access to the site was blocked by heavily armed military troops along with officers from the public order agency.
The only way to reach the site was by boat, ironically, from nearby Ancol Dreamland Park.
When LBH Jakarta activists arrived at the site, all their plywood and fiberglass houses had been burned down by the officers.
Hermawanto said that the fishermen were distraught, as they had nowhere to stay.
Most took their families to stay on their boats while, as of Sunday, access to the land was blocked by a group of unidentified men.
Some of them were decided to stay temporarily at the LBH Jakarta office on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta.
According to Hermawanto, the fishermen – who originally are from Cirebon and Indramayu in West Java – had been living in Ancol Timur for nearly 30 years.
Saturday's eviction was the fourth for them. They were first evicted in 1997 as the land they had occupied was to be used for the north coast reclamation project. After moving to another site in the area, they were evicted for a second time in 1999 for the same reason. In 2001, they were also evicted, although they had moved to another site.
The administration has been planning since 1995 to reclaim the north coast and build a plush housing and business area.
The fishermen's class action suit against the administration was rejected by the Jakarta State Administrative Court and the Jakarta High Court since filing the class action suit in 1993. They appealed to the Supreme Court but there has been no decision.
Head of the North Jakarta public order office Toni Budiono could not be reached for comment.
The LBH Jakarta questioned the administration's persistence in going ahead with its reclamation plan of 2,500 hectares of the northern coast although there are legal question marks. The office of the State Minister of the Environment has rejected the reclamation plan, fearing serious environmental damage. The minister's office lost its legal battle but they filed an appeal and the case is currently at the Jakarta High Court.
LBH Jakarta activists also said that the fishermen were not recognized by the country as they were not registered to vote in last week's legislative election – effectively disenfranchising them.
Separately in West Jakarta, 38 evicted residents of Tanjung Duren Selatan, West Jakarta, who had recently sought shelter at the National Commission on Human Rights office, were arrested by the police for destroying private property.
About 300 people evicted from the land on October 2, 2003, tore down the wall surrounding the land close to Taman Anggrek Mall at about 3 a.m. on Friday, in an attempt to reoccupy the land.