SP/Fana FS Putra, Jakarta – Forty-three-year-old Lestari had no choice but to move from her home on the banks of the Sentiong River in North Jakarta's Sunter Agung ward after it was demolished as part of the city administration's efforts to reclaim the riverbanks.
Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers brought Lestari and her husband along with their seven children to the Komarudin tenements in East Jakarta, a move she claimed she had agreed to after being promised a unit in the building.
"I was told that I would be given a unit in the apartment block, so I didn't even take the compensation money," she said. But she soon realized that reality was far from what she expected.
Along with dozens of others who were relocated from the Sentiong River, Lestari has had to make do with sleeping in the halls of the apartment building or in the parking lot, while the furniture they had brought from their old homes remained stuffed in the building's hallways. Come night time, they sleep on their beds, although many others are forced to rest on a carpet or mattress.
Lestari, who holds the mandatory Jakarta identification card, said she had been confident she would be given a housing unit, as district and subdistrict officials had included her data in their records.
"They recorded my details, but I don't know if the data has been submitted to the Jakarta Housing Agency," she said. "Our life is now unstable. I feel bad for the kids. It gets cold sleeping here, and there are so many mosquitoes."
Like Lestari, Hoko Tampubolon also said he had relocated to the apartment block upon being promised proper housing by officials.
"We didn't get a unit. Our only option is to sleep in the halls like this," he said, adding that he was not sure just how long his family would have to bear living under such conditions. "They're abandoning us and now we don't know where to go."
Jefyodya Julian, the head of the city housing agency's Area III Low-Cost Apartment Management Unit, said the relocation process of residents from Sention River to the Komarudin tenements had been conducted based on the data received by his office.
After receiving the information, he said, individuals who had been registered would then have to participate in a drawing process to obtain their designated units, after which they would be handed a key to an apartment unit.
"According to records from the ward office, 185 families from the Sentiong River will be relocated to the Komarudin apartments. They will receive their keys after the draw," Jefyodya said. "If others are still scattered [abandoned], we're not sure. Go ahead and check whether this is true with the ward office or the related subdistrict office."
He also explained that in order to be eligible for an apartment unit, one would have to have be registered as a Jakarta citizen – proven by their Jakarta identification card – and they would also have to register with the ward and subdistrict offices.
"Every move needs to follow the proper procedure. Otherwise, they [residents] will not receive their number [for the draw] and, therefore, will not get a housing unit," he said. "It is possible that some have been registered but did not participate in the draw. If that's the case, then of course they will not get a unit."
However, additional issues remain. Jefyodya said that his agency was never requested to allocate units for residents living along the stretch of the Sentiong River that is part of Sunter Agung ward in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, saying they were merely asked to allocate two blocks of apartments for residents of the Sentiong River that are part of Kebon Kosong ward in Central Jakarta.
"This is outside our scenario. They are indeed from the Sentiong River, but from a different ward. Those two blocks have been allocated for residents of Kemayoran in Central Jakarta," he said.
Additionally, Jefyodya said officials discovered numerous individuals coming from Sunter Agung had failed to bring an official letter from the ward, an issue he conceded was the result of miscommunication between officials and his agency.
"I will try to provide units for them, but we will prioritize those who are now already in the field [the apartments]. There has indeed been a mistake. Some [officials] have relocated residents without proper coordination," he said.
The Komarudin low-cost apartments have been a subject of complaints in the past few weeks, not only from residents who have yet to receive their housing units, but also from those who have moved into the homes. Reports of apartment units in poor and unsuitable conditions continue to surface. Governor Joko Widodo last week conceded the city was still in the process of renovating and improving the apartment blocks.