Cheap market descends into free-for-all fiasco

JAKARTA (JP): Looting of vegetable oil marred the opening of a two day cheap market in the National Monument (Monas) park to mark the 51st Cooperative Day yesterday.

The incident happened at 7:30 a.m., an hour after President B.J. Habibie opened the market which is aimed at providing city dwellers with essential foodstuffs at an affordable price.

Eyewitnesses said that about 500 people surrounded the stand owned by Bandeng Market Cooperative and took 170 crates, each containing 12 kilograms of oil, without paying.

Firman, the cooperative's chief, told Antara that the incident had caused a loss of Rp 20 million ($1,480), and said that he would think long and hard before selling cooking oil again.

"We could not stop the looters so we decided to let them take it all," said Firman. He added that the cooperative had originally planned to sell at least 5.4 tons of cooking oil.

The cooperative had only sold 30 crates when the looting started.

An official from the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises said that the distribution system for cooking oil was not very good and this had caused sharp price differentials, even at fairly proximate locations.

Thousands of people, including morning joggers, were seen buying basic commodities at the market.

President Habibie, who was accompanied by Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Adi Sasono and Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung, bought a pair of shoes made in Cibaduyut, Bandung.

His wife Hasri Ainun Besari paid Rp 35,000 for the shoes, which he put on straight away.

"In U.S. dollars the shoes only cost $3. I used to wear expensive shoes," Habibie told journalists.

When touring the food stands, Habibie apparently forgot the strict rules which his wife has imposed upon his diet. He tried many of the wares on sale, including fried fish.

"Come on, try it," he told Adi and Akbar.

State-owned PT Telkom and the giant PT Indofood Sukses Makmur were also selling essential commodities such as instant noodles and cooking oil at the market yesterday. (prb)