Action against unregistered vendors postponed
Action against unregistered vendors postponed
JAKARTA (JP): The City Administration has delayed taking firm
action against 120,000 unregistered street vendors operating in
the capital on humanitarian grounds and will wait until the
recovery of the country's economy, an official said on Wednesday.
The head of the City's Coordinator for Informal Sectors and
Infrastructure, Suryantika, said that although the ideal way to
treat those vendors was through law enforcement, leeway should be
allowed following the economic woe that has blighted the country
since 1997.
"There were farmers who came to work in the capital when the
crisis hit the country. They expected to earn more here than in
their hometowns," Suryantika said, noting that most of them
became vendors as they could not find jobs, as many companies had
laid off their workers.
Most of the migrants run their businesses from kiosks they set
up in the streets which eventually disturb traffic flow and cause
congestion.
Suryantika said that, under the present economic conditions,
firm measures against vendors operating in one area could trigger
a strong reaction from others in different parts of the capital.
"This is the challenge we have to face in order to discipline
their operations," he said, explaining why the city
administration had to delay taking action and find a better
solution regarding the problem.
The city, he said, tried to provide them plots in the
periphery of Jakarta to relocate their businesses, but without
creating public disorderliness.
"We offered them the plots but they rejected them, saying that
areas outside Jakarta would not bring them good profits," he
said, adding that his office would monitor their operations to
ensure that they would not create more problems.
He said the city administration planned to cooperate with the
provincial administrations of West Sumatra and Central and East
Java -- where most of the vendors are from -- to provide people
with more facilities to do business in their respective
hometowns.
He noted, however, that the plan could be carried out
once the provinces gained their autonomous status' which would
enable them to optimize the exploration of local resources.
"Regional autonomy will enable local governments to develop
their own provinces, so local residents would not have to flock
to the capital to earn their living," he said.
Touching on the city's failure to develop the business of
registered vendors in the capital, Suryantika said that his
office was unable to find big companies which would supply the
vendors with goods at competitive prices.
He said the failure was partly caused by the country's
economic uncertainty which had made cooperation between vendors
and manufacturers almost impossible. (06)