Street vendors willing to be managed, taxed<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Street vendors, who have long been accused of being a major
\nsource of traffic jams, said they were willing to be managed and
\nregulated by the city administration.<\/p>\n
They said they would obey the regulations and would not object
\nto paying fees to the administration, so long as they were not
\nevicted.<\/p>\n
"We don't mind if the administration wants to relocate us, and
\nwe are ready to pay the fees. We only ask that the new location
\nshould not be too quiet," said Simorangkir, a street vendor in
\nthe Cawang area, East Jakarta. "But if we are evicted, we would
\nfight."<\/p>\n
The former employee of a state-owned transportation company
\nexplained that street vendors could only make a profit if people
\nbought their goods. Consequently, they always occupied land at
\nbusy public places, which often caused traffic jams.<\/p>\n
Just like Simorangkir, some vendors in Jatinegara, East
\nJakarta and at Blok M, South Jakarta, have enthusiastically
\nresponded to the idea of being regulated.<\/p>\n
The idea was first mooted by City Cooperatives and Small
\nEnterprises Agency informal sector division head Sukma Jaya. He
\nsaid that the administration planned to legalize some 600,000
\nstreet vendors in the city, and tax them Rp 800 to Rp 1,000 each
\nper day.<\/p>\n
But Governor Sutiyoso then played it down, saying that it was
\nonly an idea, while the statistics bureau recorded that fewer
\nthan 200,000 street vendors were here.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile leader of the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) Azas
\nTigor Nainggolan urged the administration to manage the vendors
\nproperly in view of their significant contribution to the city.<\/p>\n
Based on Fakta's investigations earlier this year, the
\nhoodlums on Jl. Jatinegara were able to collect Rp 3 million per
\nday from about 500 vendors.<\/p>\n
"You can imagine how much revenue the administration would
\ngain if it succeeded in managing the vendors here," he said,
\nadding that the number of street vendors had increased after the
\neconomic crisis hit the country in 1997.<\/p>\n
Tigor also asserted that street vendors were an important
\nelement of the social safety net during the crisis as their
\nactivities could absorb many unemployed people.<\/p>\n
"The administration should manage them properly, as well as
\nban the hoodlums and deal with the corrupt officers who collude
\nwith them," he remarked.<\/p>\n
Vendors here claimed that they had to pay certain officers or
\nhoodlums Rp 100,000 to Rp 600,000 per year for the rent of an
\noff-street plot of land, or even for an on-street one.<\/p>\n
They also have to pay an additional fee every day, of Rp 1,000
\nto Rp 5,000 for security or waste disposal services, according to
\nAmrius, a street vendor on Jl. Jatinegara, East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Various groups of hoodlums or officers visit the vendors in
\nturn to collect the illegal levies from them. Their available
\ncapital is about Rp 1 million at most.<\/p>\n
"I couldn't afford the levies, but they threatened to sell the
\nlot to another person if I didn't pay," Amrius said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/street-vendors-willing-to-be-managed-taxed-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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