Hundreds of residents of the urban slum village of Kampung Guji Baru in West Jakarta besieged the office of Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo from early in the morning on March 18 to reject the planned eviction of their settlement.
The residents demanded the governor immediately stop the eviction plans that would rob the poor residents of their rights of occupancy and ownership.
Iswadi Gomblo, a Guji Baru resident and urban poor rights activist, said that according to laws passed in 1960, people who have occupied wild land for 20 consecutive years without legal counterclaims by other parties have the right to be issued with letters of land ownership.
The residents of Guji Baru have been living on a former swamp for more than 30 years, without legal challenge.
As the surrounding land was developed into offices, shopping malls and a university campus, Kampung Guji Baru was targeted for seizure by the land mafia, Iswadi said.
They tried to drive out the residents through intimidation and setting fire to the houses of about 1000 people in the settlement. Last year, the land mafia resorted to the notoriously corrupt judicial system with forged documents and false testimonies.
At the protest, one villager said: "There are 3000 people who live in our kampung, and all of us are ready to die to defend our village."