400-strong team to restore order in Tanah Abang

400-strong team to restore order in Tanah Abang

JAKARTA (JP): Central Jakarta mayoralty is to deploy today a
400-strong team, comprised of military and police officers, to
put Tanah Abang vendors operating along Jl. Kebon Jati in order,
an official said.

Central Jakarta Mayor Andi Subur Abdullah said the team's
deployment was vital because the 1,352 listed vendors operating
in the area had caused havoc.

"The vendors will be ordered to vacate the northern side of
the street. Only the southern side is temporarily allowed to be
used," he said.

The municipality will also prevent vendors from operating
along Jl. Jati Baru, Jl. Fakruddin and Jl. KH Mas Mansyur, he
said.

Subur reiterated that only the southern part of Jl. Kebon Jati
could be used by vendors.

"Actually we can remove them from the streets. But because the
city is still preparing a plot of land for a new market to
relocate them, they can stay there temporarily."

He said that those unable to find space along the southern
part of Jl. Kebon Jati will be asked to move to the Kebon Jati
market, which is not fully occupied.

Public order officers started cleaning up parts of the area
yesterday and installed a fence to prevent vendors from using the
prohibited areas.

The mayoralty is currently in the process of clearing a 4,000-
square-meter plot of land near Kebon Jati to relocate all vendors
operating along the streets.

On Thursday, the mayoralty invited 53 trader representatives
to its office so they could be informed about the cleanup plan.

"We ask the traders to understand and be patient," Subur said.

The cleanup is aimed at ridding the streets of increasingly
complicated problems which, among other things, facilitated the
existence of hoodlums.

"The mushrooming number of hoodlums cannot be separated from
the presence of traders," he said. "Hoodlums ask for money from
the traders and promise to protect them in return.

"After clearing the streets of vendors, we will rejuvenate the
red-light district of Bongkaran and the unlicensed hotels and
massages parlors.

"We will crack down on about 10 hotels along Jl. Kebon Jati
that we suspect are being used as prostitution houses. Basically,
they have violated their building use permits."

Subur said the Tanah Abang issue was no longer considered
merely an urban problem but a national political issue.

"Many parties have conflicting interests in Tanah Abang. That
is why any problems emerging in Tanah Abang will be brought out
into the open," he said.

He cited various examples, including the hoodlums, as issues
that had been politicized by some parties.

The mayor said he would not hesitate to take stern action
against officers found guilty of extorting money or collecting
illegal levies from the vendors.

He denied accusations that the mayoralty had been collecting
levies from street vendors.

"I tell you again: the city never issued a regulation to
collect levies from the traders. If there's any such levy, it
must be illegal.

"If the city collects levies, it means that we are legalizing
them as vendors, which we won't do."

The vendors, who have been forced to pay daily levies, have
refused to reveal who collects the levies from them. They just
entrust the matter to the officials.

"We can't say anything," Hendra, one of the traders, said. "We
fear for our lives now."

Subur said the city had conducted four operations over the
past two months to get rid of vendors, hoodlums, prostitutes and
other social outcasts living in the area.

"In a joint operation this week alone, we have rounded up 19
hoodlums. They have been brought to the Central Jakarta Police
precinct for further questioning," Subur said.

The mayor said that the number of hoodlums in the area was
only 30. The press had blown the hoodlum matter out of proportion
and the thugs were now viewed as the "owners" of Tanah Abang, he
said.

"Hoodlums captured in the operation will be obliged to join a
basic training program held by Jakarta Police. They are expected
to train as security guards.

"They may be hired by several private companies but they
certainly will not be operating in Tanah Abang," the deputy chief
of Central Jakarta Police, Maj. Ronnie F. Sompie, said.

In a related development, there is to be a cleanup program
from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. today to clear the street of tables and
carts used by traders. The operation is also expected to install
traffic signs along the streets.

Perumka, the state-owned railway company, will also put lights
around the nearby railway tracks. (07/04)