The
real reason many poor Jakartans are opposing Ahok in the gubernatorial election
Jakarta: We are being taken on what Dharma Diani grimly calls "rubble
tourism". This is her home, but the landscape she shows us looks more like
a war zone than a peaceful kampung (neighbourhood) of poor fishermen
in North Jakarta. Somehow people are still living amid the piles of debris;
there are tents and patchwork shanties cobbled together with plywood and
advertising tarpaulins.
Dharma Diani once supported
Jakarta's governor Ahok, but after her home was razed with just 11 days' notice
and no compensation, she and many others displaced from their homes in feel
deeply betrayed.
This is
Kampung Akuarium, ground zero in Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok"
Tjahaja Purnama's aggressive campaign of forced evictions to tackle endemic
problems in the city such as flooding, traffic congestion and lack of green
space.
The people
of Kampung Akuarium were given an eviction notice 11 days before their homes
were bulldozed in April last year.
"We
were never told why but Ahok was quoted in the media saying he wanted to turn
the area into a religious tourism destination because an old mosque is
nearby," Dharma says.
"He
wanted a big square where people can meet in restaurants. Ahok keeps saying he
wants to revitalise the old city but nothing has happened since the
eviction."
Dharma, who
makes a living selling gas canisters, is among 70 families who have refused to
budge. Her house was flattened but she managed to save some of her belongings
and erect a makeshift shack.
"It
leaks of course and if the wind is too strong, the roof is gone. The roof in
our temporary mosque has gone too."
But Dharma
says it is not an option to relocate to low-cost rental apartments provided by
the government 25 kilometres away. "Some of us are fishermen or work at
the fish market. If you move us somewhere four hours away in heavy traffic, how
can we work? How can we pay?"
Dharma's
eyes well with tears as she talks to us in a crude shelter - the community's
"crisis centre" - which has a banner proclaiming "my kampung is
my life". "Ahok labelled us as illegal squatters and says we just
occupied empty land and spread tuberculosis. We tried to meet him but he didn't
want to receive us. He is too much. He is cruel. For us a leader is not like
that."
The irony is
that almost all of the residents of Kampung Akuarium, including Dharma,
supported Ahok when he successfully ran in the gubernatorial elections in 2012
as Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's deputy.
Jokowi, now
the president, visited Kampung Akuarium three times during the campaign. Dharma
says he made a political contract to end evictions and give land certificates
to those who had lived in the kampung for more than 20 years.
The sense of
betrayal is deep.
"Ninety-five
per cent of the people from the kampung voted for them. It didn't matter to us
Ahok was Christian and Chinese, we never cared about race and religion. Now we
have this problem because of Ahok himself. He is a troublemaker."
Asks if there
is a anyone left in the kampung who would vote for Ahok in the February 15
gubernatorial election, Dharma shakes her head bitterly. "Null per cent.
It's common sense. He makes the poor become poorer. This has made a lot of
people more political, including me."
The former
red-light district of Kalijodo which was virtually razed overnight
last February after Ahok decided he wanted to clean up the so-called
den of vice and turn it into a park.
Residents have been
living in tents and shelters donated by political parties
In September
hundreds of families were evicted
from Bukit Duri, as part of a plan to mitigate flooding by
widening the Ciliwung river, despite legal proceedings being before
court.
Murdoch
University Research fellow Ian Wilson gets frustrated when so much of the
commentary around the sometimes vitriolic campaign against Ahok, who is on trial for allegedly insulting Islam,
centres on concerns over growing religious and racial intolerance and
radicalism in Indonesia.
"This
ignores the fact there are solid material grievances"
Wilson
visited Kampung Akuarium soon after the homes were bulldozed. He says the
people were shell-shocked. One fisherman, who had been out of mobile range
because he was fishing around Kalimantan in Borneo, came back to discover his
home had gone.
"When I
first went out there, people had signs of post-traumatic shock disorder and
real psychological damage because of what had been done to them. This
neighbourhood was fully supportive of Jokowi and Ahok. You can't explain [the
opposition to Ahok] by saying they are sectarian or racist against the Chinese
- it is simply not the case. It happened as a direct outcome of the impact of
policies."
The Jakarta
Legal Aid Institute estimates that more than 16,000 families have been
displaced in the last two years alone. Hafid Abbas from the National Commission
for Human Rights says forced evictions violate human rights: "The poor has
likely no space to live safely in Jakarta."
Hafid warns
that in order to prevent social unrest in Jakarta the Jokowi administration
should stop forced evictions for unjust reasons such as development of land by
companies.
Visit
Kampung Akuarium and you will be left in no doubt for whom its remaining
residents will vote. Everywhere you look are banners for Ahok's rival Anies Baswedan and his running
mate Sandiaga Uno. The ticket, which is endorsed by government opposition party
Gerindra and the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party, has vowed it will not carry
out evictions.
A Gerindra
flag flutters from the ruins. Dharma says Gerindra distributed tents, food and
medication to the displaced people.
"A lot
suffered flu because their homes are now open to the elements and skin problems
because it is dusty," she says. "Of course we are sympathetic to
Gerindra because they give us things. It's not because they want our votes,
it's not because of politics because there are not many of us left here."
Wilson, who
is researching how evicted neighbourhoods are engaging with the
upcoming election, says political opportunists - including the
hardline Islam Defenders Front (FPI) - have capitalised on this
disenchantment.
"The
FPI, for all its faults, will often be there to provide logistical support
during evictions or natural disasters," Wilson says. "People have a
genuine affection for the group because of that. Most of the FPI members come
from kampungs originally, so [people] relate to them more than middle-class
intellectuals. Many kampung members have become bona fide FPI supporters over
the past few months, taking part in the [anti-Ahok] demonstrations."
Dharma says
the FPI were at Kampung Akuarium on eviction day handing out food and
mattresses. The eviction occurred months before Ahok became embroiled in
controversy for allegedly insulting Islam. "They always help people in a
situation like this," Dharma says.
She agrees
Ahok's policies may have driven people into the arms of other political
organisations. "Maybe it's just like food," she says. "We
know certain food doesn't taste good and another food looks attractive."
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