800 sidewalk vendors complain to rights body
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Representatives of 800 sidewalk vendors operating near the Pulogadung bus terminal in East Jakarta filed a complaint on Tuesday with the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM).
They reported violence allegedly committed by public order officers during an eviction by the East Jakarta municipal administration last week that left 29 people injured.
The vendors said they had been evicted and terrorized by around 150 officers from the public order agency, the city transportation agency and unidentified people, claiming to be members of the Betawi People Association, from Nov. 11 to Nov. 15.
They said that the officers also damaged their carts using crowbars and bamboo sticks.
"They whacked our carts and broke glasses. They did not have any compassion," one of the vendors, Slamet, told Taheri Noor of Komnas HAM.
"They did not stop even when there was a call from the mosque to break the fast."
Taheri promised to investigate the case further if violence really occurred during the evictions. He pointed out that the eviction itself violated the people's right to make a living.
It was the biggest eviction of sidewalk vendors this year. In the last three months, the administration has been evicting people from private and state lands, from under bridges and on riverbanks.
The conflict between the vendors and the bus terminal authority started in October last year when the authority wanted to change the sidewalk around the terminal into a green area.
The vendors then occupied a part of the road. Six months later, public order officers and policemen attempted to evict them twice but they fought back. No casualties nor damage was reported.
After the incidents, both the vendors and head of the bus terminal, M. Cholil, made an agreement that they were allowed to operate from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
However, the agreement broke last week as the officers evicted them again although Governor Sutiyoso had made a promise early last month that all evictions would be halted during the holy month of Ramadhan.
"I am still selling sliced fruit now but I have to play cat and mouse with the authorities," said vendor Samsul Arifin, who began operating in the bus terminal in 1994.
"Being evicted from the sidewalk has decreased my income 75 percent. I used to earn around Rp 200,000 (US$24) per day," he said. "I can't even replace my cart's broken glasses."
With his wife and three children depending on him, Samsul is afraid that he will not be able to buy new clothes for his children for Idul Fitri on Nov. 25.
The vendors demanded the bus terminal authority allow them to operate from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. as previously agreed.
They said they did not oppose the bus terminal authority's plan to put the vendors in order, but they strongly opposed the forced evictions.