Survivors start clearing up débris

Does God test us?: A man prays besides his injured wife in a makeshift tent set up by local media teams after an earthquake in Pengalengan, about 30 kilometers from Bandung, West Java. The 7.3 -magnitude quake killed at least 57 people and damaged thousands of homes. Reuters/Supri

Survivors of the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that devastated Tasikmalaya, West Java, and many other parts of the island of Java on Sept. 2, started clearing up the débris from their damaged homes on Thursday.

Male residents from the village of Cigalontang, the Jayapura and Cigalontang districts, were seen collecting items from the ruins while children and women in the community were sitting among the rubble.

Following the earthquake, residents were forced to eat their sahur (early breakfast before the start of fasting) meals in makeshift tents erected by the local police for earthquake refugees.

Most residents said they preferred to stay in the tents because they were either too afraid to go back to their houses — in case there were more earthquakes — or because their houses were too damaged.
“Over half of the people’s houses in the Jayapura subdistrict are damaged,” Cigalontang village head Au Kurniawan, 56, said.

Siti Hanifah, 47, a Cigalontang resident, said she had never experienced an earthquake of that
magnitude.

“The last time I felt a big earthquake was when Mt. Galunggung erupted in 1982,” she said.

Siti added she had didn’t know yet how and when she would rebuild her damaged house.

She expressed hope the government would lend her a hand to rebuild her house, so her life could go back to normal.

On Wednesday night, most of the villagers, especially women and children, slept in the tents, while men guarded their respective damaged houses.

According to Au, there are at least 680 families living in some 550 houses in the Jayapura subdistrict, which consists of four villages.

Data from the West Java provincial administration shows the 7.3-magnitude earthquake, whose epicenter was located 142 kilometers southwest of Tasikmalaya, West Java, and which originated 30 kilometers below the seabed, killed at least 43 people, injured hundreds of others and damaged hundreds of houses.

The provincial administration reported nine deaths in Tasikmalaya, nine in Garut, seven in Bandung, two in Sukabumi, 10 in Cianjur, two in Bogor, and four in Ciamis.

Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah said the government would prioritize looking after victims over providing them with aid to rebuild their damaged houses.

“We’ll focus on the people’s health and logistical supplies first,” he said during his visit to a number of hard-hit regions in Tasikmalaya.

West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan said his administration had allocated Rp 30 billion from its budget to provide emergency services for the victims of the earthquake.

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KPU hints at siding with Constitutional Court

The General Elections Commission (KPU) hinted Tuesday it would abide by the ruling from the Constitutional Court over the Supreme Court on legislative seat distribution, breaking weeks of deadlock over the announcement of who won legislative seats.

“It seems we all agree the only phase that needs revising is the third phase,” said KPU chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary.

“We consider the first and second phases fully resolved. We’ll hold a two-day meeting to discuss the matter before we meet with the experts, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court on Friday. I hope the issue can be resolved by Aug. 21.”

The Supreme Court ruled on June 18 that the second phase of vote counting by the KPU was
incorrect.

The KPU’s earlier interpretation was that the second phase of legislative seat distribution included only the remaining eligible votes from the first phase of calculations.

But the Supreme Court ruled the votes used by the winning parties in the first phase were to be used again in the second phase, costing smaller parties with less votes their legislative seats.

The ruling would have given at least 66 seats to major parties at the expense of minor parties at the House of Representatives, according to a calculation by the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro).

However, the Constitutional Court decided on Aug. 7 that the second phase of vote counting by the KPU was valid.

The Constitutional Court stressed its ruling must be applied to the KPU vote counting method used in the 2009 legislative elections, with court chief Mahfud M.D. saying that although legal decisions were in general not retroactive, but since the legislative election vote counting would affect the future distribution of seats in the House, this particular decision would have to be applied.

KPU member Syamsulbahri said one of the experts to be invited was Cetro legal analyst Refly Harun.
“We want to implement both of the courts’ rulings without having to violate either of them,” Syamsulbahri said.

Refly told The Jakarta Post the KPU had to obey the ruling issued by the Constitutional Court.

“The Supreme Court issued four rulings on the seat distribution, only one of which is retroactive,” he said.

“However, that ruling, which could potentially revise the KPU’s seat distribution, has been annulled by the Constitutional Court ruling.

“The other rulings are not retroactive. They will only serve as guidelines for the future. Therefore if the KPU decides to obey the Constitutional Court ruling, they need not to worry about violating the law by disobeying the Supreme Court.”

Refly added the Constitutional Court had greater legitimacy in terms of election disputes than the Supreme Court.

“The law clearly stipulates that election disputes fall within the domain of the Constitutional Court,” he said.

“I hope that through this debacle, we will have far clearer laws in the future and that all election disputes will be solved through the Constitutional Court only.” (hdt)

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