Authorities get tough on recalcitrant vendors

JAKARTA (JP): The authorities will no longer tolerate any stubbornness by vendors who refuse to move from their illegal sites on the streets and sidewalks of the overcrowded Tanah Abang area, a senior official said Saturday.

"The city is already too patient in its handling of this matter," Central Jakarta Mayor Andi Subur Abdullah told reporters after a meeting with the 1,352 street vendors in the Blok F parking lot.

"If we've given them leniency, it's just because we understand the vendors' needs.

"But it's time now for the vendors to be brought to order because they've violated the rules for a long time," Subur said, adding that the streets, which are normally overpacked with seasonal traders in the run-up to Idul Fitri, the end of the Moslem fasting month, must be cleaned up.

The meeting in the market complex followed a massive overnight cleanup and "blockade" of parts of Jl. Kebon Jati and Jl. Jati Baru by a 400-strong team of soldiers, police and city official.

The team, whose operation lasted from 9 p.m. Friday to 2 a.m. Saturday, installed portable fences and traffic signs on both streets to prevent vendors from using the areas.

The team received help from notorious hoodlum leader Hercules and his cohorts.

When the traders arrived on the scene Saturday morning, they were ordered to run their business only on the southern side of Jl. Kebon Jati.

During the meeting, Subur told the street traders, who mostly sell shirts, underwear, socks, belts, fruit and household goods, that they all would soon be relocated to a new market nearby, the land for which is still being cleared.

"The southern side of Jl. Kebon Jati is only temporary, and it can only accommodate some 750 traders.

The rest of you will be temporarily relocated to the nearby Kebon Jati market, since the municipality is still preparing a new plot for you all," he told the traders.

"If you don't obey this rule, you can pack your stuff and leave Tanah Abang immediately," Subur said, promising that his office would be consistent in applying the rule.

Speaking with reporters, Subur admitted that relocating the sidewalk traders was not an easy task.

"They just want to be as close as they can to their customers passing down the streets," he said. "That's why they are so afraid of being relocated into an indoor market."

When asked to comment on the city's decision, most of the traders said they were worried about their earnings as they would be further from their customers, most of whom are commuters using the Tanah Abang terminal.

"The buyers will be reluctant to cross the street," said a tool seller.

Another trader said defiantly: "If nobody buy my goods, I'll move back to the street again."

But many traders believed that the steel fences won't remain in place for time since they can be easily moved or broken.

The city's move, however, changed nothing on the streets yesterday. Congestion was as bad as ever.

Besides cleaning the streets of vendors, the team also cleared the red-light district of Bongkaran.

The Friday cleanup was aimed at ridding the areas of what is becoming an increasingly complicated problem of congestion, illegal trading, and prostitution. It is exacerbated by the presence of hoodlums, who regularly extort money from drivers.

Fed up with the extortion, more than 100 minivan drivers went on strike early last week. They returned to work only after the police arrested 19 hoodlums in the area.

According to City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang, 10 of the arrested hoodlums are to be taken to court soon.

"If found guilty, each of the suspects will face a maximum penalty of eight years in jail," Aritonang said Saturday.

Hercules said Saturday that Tanah Abang's problems were caused by the inconsistency of the municipality in enforcing the rules.

"If the municipality was consistent in applying the rules, I believe the matter could be solved properly," he said.

Abraham Lungga, a district youth leader, said: "Some city officials have also gained profits by collecting illegal levies. There is collusion here. It's not fair if the hoodlums are the only ones to be blamed over the matter."

"Everybody wants a piece of the big cake," he said. (07/jun/cst)