Housing for the Poor

 

The Indonesian Constitution stipulated that every citizen is entitled, among others, to live in a decent housing.

In order to implement this stipulation, since the 1970's the government has given subsidy for the development of houses with minimum building area of 21 square meters specially for low income citizens.

However, after 2011 low income citizens cannot buy such kind of houses anymore, because the Housing Law No. 1/2011 does not allow the building of such kind of houses anymore.

According to Kompas, Article 22(3) of the said Law stipulated that the floor area of houses should at least be 36 sq. meters. 

As a consequence, the government could not provide financial subsidy, therefore banks would not provide soft housing loans for buyers of houses with area less than 36 sq.meters.

The Minister of People's Housing Djan Faridz was quoted as saying that this Law will not inflict financial losses to the people. He said that the Law does not contradict with Article 28(1) of the Constitution. And based on the Indonesian National Standard for City Housings, the minimum building area is 9.6 sq.m for an Adult and 4.8 sq.m for a Child. So, the minimum total building area for a family would be 36 sq. meters.

The Minister also said that the Law is in accordance with Art. 2 (1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which has been ratified by Law No. 11/2005, and United Nations Charter on Human Rights Art. 25 (1) regarding the Rights to Adequate Housing.

However, the Association of Indonesian Housings Developers said that the Law will make it impossible for low income citizens who earn less than Rp. 2.5 Million/month to own houses. Considering this fact, the Association has requested the Constitutional Court to Review Art. 22 (3) of the Law.

As the price of land is increasing, it would be very difficult for lower income citizens, which happen to be the majority of people, to buy houses. Therefore, I hope that the Constitutional Court would review the said Law.


Photo: Courtesy of Shutterstock

A Distrust Society

Almost every day we saw on television, heard on the radio, and read in the news paper about so many people getting easily angered and staged violence in public places, although only triggered by trivial matters.

They show their anger in many ways, such as the emergence of motorcycle gang after the murder of a Naval officer, clashes between member of the Army and the Police in Gorontalo, and an Army Captain acting arrogantly against a civilian in Jakarta.

Kompas wrote that aggressive behavior is a result of pressure due to various uncertainties in our country, ranging from Legal, Social, Politic, Economic, and even Religion.

Muji Sutrisno, a lecturer at the Dyarkara Philosophy School in Jakarta, was quoted as saying that today's society is losing a good role model. Figures or institutions that are expected to set an example and wisdom, it turns out most of them become part of the problem. It's hard to find someone who can be trusted.                    

He went on to say that such society can be called a Distrust Society i.e a Society that losses trust. If this goes on and on, our nation may loss Morality, Ethics and Wisdom.

Considering the above, I hope that all our politicians would always think and act as patrons for our society i.e. by upholding national unity based on our Constitutions, Laws, Pancasila and Traditions. And most of all, the laws must be enforced properly.

Religious Freedom is protected by the Constitution

The Indonesian (amended) Constitution of 1945 Articles 28 and 29 stipulated that every citizens has the right to choose its own religion and faith.


But unfortunately, recent incidents in Cikeusik, Temanggung and Pasuruan, show that some citizens have ignored the constitutional rights of other citizens.  

The worst thing was that the authorities seemed to forget that religious freedom is protected by the Constitution that they seemed to be helpless when a fanatic group using the symbol of a religion brutally attacked the houses, places of worship of other religions and even killed 3 people in the above mentioned incidents. 

The most horrifying thing was that the authorities do not seemed to be annoyed when the said fanatic group threatened that they will oust the government of President SBY if their organization is disbanded. 

The above situation not only worried people in Indonesia, but also Indonesians living abroad. For example fellow blogger Rima Fauzi and Imelda Tenyala in Brussels, Belgium have initiated the Solidarity Movement for Religious Freedom in Indonesia (Gerakan Solidaritas Kebebasan Beragama di Indonesia) which can be contacted at : solidaritasberagamaindonesia@gmail.com.


I hope that each and every citizens of Indonesia would accept the fact that Religious Freedom is protected by the Constitution and every differences/disputes would be settled peacefully and amicably.

Image : Courtesy of Rima Fauzi.

Third Term for President SBY?

One of the hottest news lately is about the possibility of President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) to run as a candidate in the next presidential election in 2014.

This is impossible, because according to the amended Constitution a president can only hold two office terms, and currently SBY is on his second office term.

This shocking idea was brought by the PR of SBY's Democrat Party i.e. Lawyer Ruhut Sitompul who said that SBY is the only suitable person for the post. For which purpose he proposed an amendment of said constitution clause to allow a president hold more than two office terms.

Amendment of the Constitution is not an easy thing to do and should through several steps. First, a proposal for amendment should be approved by at least 1/3 votes of the joint meeting of House of Representatives and the Regional Representatives Council. Second, the joint meeting must be attended by at least 2/3 of the members. Third, 51% of the members must be give their approval.

Considering that the Democrat Party only have 25% seats in the House of Parliament, they have to obtain approval from the other members of the coalition, which means that they have to give much more consessions, especially to the Golkar Party as second largest party.

In my humble opinion, amendment of the Constitution would take a whole lots of time, energy and cause political tensions. Therefore it would be much better if the Constitution is not disturbed and let new leaders become president in 2014.  



For details on the above, please read the following articles :
-  Undang-undang Dasar 1945 (Indonesian Constitution)
-  SBY and a Third Term as President?
-  Extending Presidential Term Betrays Indonesia's Reform