Cheap market descends into free-for-all fiasco
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)