Ben Hil burning

Ben Hil burning:

A crimson sky hangs over Bendung Hilir as plumes of smoke rise into the air. Tiny cracklings of fire catch the breeze and fly upward like winged insects. From a mosque crowds of onlookers hug the balcony to watch as firefighters spray what remains of a slum dwelling in this central Jakarta neighborhood. Their efforts seem fruitless. Only a few structural frames remain – the walls and doorways illuminated by flames that lick around their edges.

Families flee with their few belongings, bedding, baskets of clothes, a few electronics. Fans, televisions and some refrigerators lie along walkways or dumped in piles – the neighborhood’s prized possessions.
Abu Makmus, a member of the coast guard who lives in the neighborhood, says an electrical short started the fire. People can only speculate about the number of homes destroyed by the blaze – 50, maybe 100, some say. They know better the people who lived here. Most were street vendors, many were migrants from East Java. All lived on meager salaries.

Squatters and slum dwellers have never had it easy in Jakarta, even less so as this booming metropolis works to build its urban infrastructure. Property developers are snapping up land for apartments and office towers, pushing out people without land rights.

When homes are so close together, made from flammable materials – scrap metal, old planks – and filled with paper garbage, it doesn’t take long for a spark to spread. Nearly a year ago a fire swept through several shanty houses along the canal at the other end of the neighborhood. Ias, who lives next to where that fire occurred, said it was sparked by a rice cooker.
That was only three or four homes, he says of the fire last year. This is … so much more. “It’s sad,” I say.
“Yes, a big pity,” he agrees. “And just before Lebaran.” In two weeks most people in Indonesia will celebrate the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. It is a time for joy and indulgence, a time to give blessings.

But not everyone is feeling so lucky. Ias says the homes that burnt down last year still have not been rebuilt, while a new property development is clearing land just behind the site of today’s fire. Men and teenagers grab buckets and plastic kitchen tubs, anything they can to try and extinguish the fire. Others tug on the fire hose to give it more slack. All are fighting to salvage what they can.
Tomorrow police will likely conduct an investigation. The cause will probably be blamed on poor wiring. And for the untold number of residents here, Lebaran will be spent in either the kindness of kin or out on the sidewalk.