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HRVQ8
BENVGBU4 Housing Policy, Programme, and Project Alternatives
suppliers and the village members. That was the reason of lucky call from Pak Hari; bringing
Sarni back to her village soon to get her house renovated.
As the money was allocated, materials were ready, and Sarni realized that 7 million rupiah
could only cover roof cost. She asked additional funding from her sisters, but they were
barely interested to invest on the idle house. Other village members sold their assets such as
cow and goat to complete the cost of their housing renovation. Furthermore, the subsidy does
not include labour cost. Government assumed that the construction process is self-help with
gotong royong (mutual aid) as part of social capital within community. Actually, the builders
asked for incentive, whether it was half rate wage, free lunch, or cigarette.
Desa Kamal members agreed on Sarnis house was the first one to be renovated because she
needed to go back to work in Jakarta soon. It took one week intensively to rebuild the roof
and walls of the house before the builders went to renovate other houses. Sarni took part in
monitoring the construction, patiently looking after her only asset. Almost 8 million rupiah
has been out of her saving for wall cost using bricks and concrete. At the end of the day, her
money was not enough to buy window. On the last day of week, Pak Hari took picture of her
house after the renovation for the report about how the subsidy was used in the right place.
From Sukoharjo to Jakarta: Dwelling Story
At first, there was no single idea for Sarni to leave her house in Sukoharjo. When she finished
middle school, she was tempted to join her older sisters who got accepted to study in a
university in Jakarta. It was in 1984 when she stepped on the capital city, nothing specifically
to achieve and to hold. She tried university test, training, and applied for courses. Those
attempts did not work until she tried barber training in 1990 and finally accepted to work in a
small barbershop in eastern part of Jakarta.
In the early times, she lived with her sister, Sarwanti, in the area close to bus terminal named
Pulo Gadung. Most of relatives from Sukoharjo used Pulo Gadung, a sub district in border
between Jakarta and Bekasi, as arrival place in the capital city. In 1994, she met a man with
whom she married with and moved to a rental house with her husband, not very far from her
sisters house. In the same year, the new couple got a daughter, followed by a son three years
later. However, 1997 was a remarkable year that brought life upside down for Sarni. Her
husband left her and discreetly married with another woman. From this moment, she decided
There are 1 room for living room in the daytime and bedroom at night, and 1 squeezed
kitchen and toilet. The rent is only 500.000 rupiah per month, including water and electricity
cost. The rent expenses must be compromised with education cost for her two children, daily
meals, transportation cost, and saving for visiting her house in Sukoharjo every year.
Village trap
Sarni does not remember in detail how much money had been allocated for the house, but she
was grateful for village members who considered her as priority to be helped. I am also
grateful for this subsidy from government to renovate my house. she added.. Yet, what
tomorrow will bring to Sarni? It is true that she has a property; land and house. It is true that
she can enjoy her house every moment she visits her relatives there. Nevertheless, Desa
Kamal is located in remote area in Bulu District with 24.057 poor inhabitants from 51.267
total inhabitants (Empat Puluh Satu Persen Warga Sukoharjo Miskin, 2010) with no public
transportation, lack of water, even the forest got dry and monkeys invade the village. Lately
the village is disturbed by news about theft. Only seniors stay in the village, living day by day
depends on remittance from their families who live in the city.
Reflecting on existing village life, she considered two choices. First, she would live alone and
insecure in the house in Desa Kamal because her children most likely will look for work in
Jakarta. If my house is finished, I think I will sell it and move closer to the city with good
water provision, public transport, and secure environment. Maybe I will open a grocery or
barbershop. In Desa Kamal, there is no work other than farmer. For a single mother in the
late fifties with no pension, physical work is no longer suits her. The case of subsidy for selfhelp housing does not directly keep her live in the house for better livelihood.
Self-help housing has been theorized since Turner and gain ebb and flow as discourse for
housing as a verb for the poor. If the solution from government is providing subsidy, it is
likely only for short term improvement for the house per se. Tunas and Laksmono (2014)
argue that, self help housing consolidation should be based on a long term vision and clear
socio economic and environmental considerations. Related to migration, Speare and Harris
(1986) conclude that government need to take into considerations the location of job creation
with specific education in order to influence the rural-urban migration flows.
References
Empat Puluh Satu Persen Warga Sukoharjo Miskin. 2010. Program Penanggulangan
Kemiskinan Perkotaan. Available at: http://www.p2kp.org/wartaarsipdetil.asp?mid=2833
(Accessed: 14 March 2015).
Heripoerwanto, Eko. 2012. PERENCANAAN BANTUAN STIMULAN PERUMAHAN
SWADAYA (BSPS)
Menteri Negara Perumahan Rakyat. 2011. PEDOMAN PELAKSANAAN BANTUAN
STIMULAN PERUMAHAN SWADAYA BAGI MASYARAKAT BERPENGHASILAN RENDAH.
(Nomor 14 Tahun 2011). Jakarta: Kementrian Negara Perumahan Rakyat.
Mungkawasa, Oswar. 2011. PERUMAHAN SWADAYA : KONSEP, PEMBELAJARAN DAN
PRAKTEK UNGGULAN.
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Jakarta, Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 40(1), pp. 4558. doi: 10.1111/1467-8373.00080.
Silver, Christopher. 2007. Planning the Megacity: Jakarta in the Twentieth Century.
Oxfordshire: Routledge.
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Development and Cultural Change, 34(2). doi: 10.1086/451525.
Temple, G. 1975. Migration to Jakarta, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 11(1), pp.
7681. doi: 10.1080/00074917512331332652.
Tunas, Devisari and Darmoyono, Laksmi T. 2014. Self-help Housing in Indonesia. in
Affordable Housing in the Urban Global South: Seeking Sustainable Solutions, edited by Jan
Bredenoord, Paul van Lindert, and Per Smets. Oxon: Routledge.
Tunas, D. and Peresthu, A. 2009. The self-help housing in Indonesia: The only option for the
poor?, Habitat International, 34(3), pp. 315322. doi: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2009.11.007
Turner, J. F. C. 1983. From central provision to local enablement, Habitat International,
7(5-6), pp. 207210. doi: 10.1016/0197-3975(83)90071-1.
Undang-Undang Indonesia Nomor 1 Tahun 2011. 2011. Perumahan dan Pemukiman. Jakarta:
Presiden Indonesia