Celebrity cafes at Monas queried

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute has questioned Governor Sutiyoso's decision to allow food stalls and street cafes, run mostly by celebrities, at the National Monument (Monas) park in Central Jakarta.

The head of the institute's field and environment division, Dewi Novirianti, said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post Wednesday that this decision was very discriminatory in that for years ordinary food stall owners were prevented from doing business in the Monas area.

Dewi made the remark in response to Sutiyoso's decision to inaugurate the operation of 126 street cafes in the southern part of Monas Square in front of City Hall on Saturday.

"Besides being chased away in a number of operations against them, ordinary vendors are allowed to operate there only if they pay illegal levies," she said.

Among those allowed to run cafes are Abang and None (Mr. and Miss) Jakarta.

To be fair, the governor should also issue similar permits to ordinary vendors to enable them to operate there legally, Dewi said. (ind)