| November 28
2001
Extract from the
Finding Mission to Jakarta Indonesia
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Pictures from Afrazal UPC Jakarta
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The
full report is available from ACHR
Very intense and
high-handed repression against
the urban poor in Jakarta in the form of massive confiscations of their
means of livelihood, arrests and detention of those who protest and the
eviction/demolitions of their
houses that started mid-August 2001 continues until today.
The authority of the
metropolitan city has drawn up a detailed plan for the second semester
of 2001, with the end of November 2001 as the deadline, to clean up
Jakarta of the poor. The operation involves the mobilization of
thousands of municipality guards, hundreds of policemen and soldiers
armed with tear gas pistols, guns and rubber sticks, and the use of
bulldozers, open trucks, vans and police cars.
Since
August 2001 the confiscation of pedicabs, demolition of side-street food
stalls, car wash services, arrests of street children and sidewalk
vendors, street musicians and others who earn a living on the street,
and forced evictions and arson in urban poor settlements have become a
day to day occurrence. The operation often happens by midnight or early
morning from 2:00 AM to 4:00 AM when people are asleep. The authority
also uses ethnicity and religion to pit the poor against each other,for
instance, Bitawi (native Jakartans) versus non-Bitawi, Muslims versus
Christians, including the use of thugs
to terrorize the poor. The vulnerable
sections of the community such women and children suffer
most of the violations of their human rights in such situations.
Contact the Urban Poor Consortium
in Jakarta for more details or of ways you can help
urbanpoor@bigfoot.com |
MONDAY
OCTOBER 29
2001
RAWADAS COMMUNITY
500 households
demolished
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Families look on as the state moves in to
destroy their homes
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Security forces destroy homes
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A women comforts her child surround by
belongings
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Families sift through the rubble of their homes
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Blood streams from a women gang beaten by
security forces.
Many others were also injured.
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A young lad searches through what was his home
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"There is no freedom ...
stomp on the flag ... it's all bullshit ...
Let us be the first to be buried in this graveyard. .. "
Note: The destruction of her home was for a new graveyard according to
city authorities.
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The last few months of 2001
in
Jakarta The Governor and the City's Poor
HERE
UPC Jakarta Web Site HERE
UPC Bacak / Pedi Cab Gallery HERE
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