City evicts vendors in run-up to election
City evicts vendors in run-up to election
Damar Harsanto, Jakarta
Ahead of the campaign period for the July 5 presidential
election, the Jakarta administration has begun a month-long
campaign of its own to evict street vendors.
"The evictions are routine. Since we will have the
presidential election campaign (beginning on June 1), we are
carrying out selective evictions on small numbers of targets,"
said Jakarta Public Order Office head Soebagio over the weekend.
He added that about 4,000 public order officers would be
deployed to help the police provide security in the capital
during the campaign itself.
The agency will be targeting vendors operating in busy areas
in the capital, including the main thoroughfare of Jl. Sudirman
and the Sabang and Cikini areas of Central Jakarta.
Soebagio said his officers would not be rousting larger
communities of squatters and vendors, like the squatters living
beneath the Rawa Bebek overpass in North Jakarta or near the
Otorita Batam office in Cawang, East Jakarta, because he wanted
to avoid clashes.
A string of forcible evictions last year by the Public Order
Office left more than 5,000 families homeless.
A chicken porridge vendor near the Dharmala Sakti building on
Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta, Ibu Menik, recalled how she had
to hurry her customers along last Friday morning, less than an
hour after she opened, when dozens of public order officers
pulled up near her cart.
She said she always had to be on the alert to avoid the
officers swooping down on her and seizing her cart.
"I don't know why the public order officers have begun
sweeping for street vendors again," she told The Jakarta Post.
Ibu Menik is luckier than street vendors operating in front of
the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center in Cikini, Central Jakarta.
"About 500 public order officers arrived in 40 pickup trucks
last Monday. They took away my cigarette cart along with all the
goods inside," said vendor Gondrong, 30.
About 200 vendors lost their kiosks and goods in the
operation.
"If there were fewer than 100 officers, we could have fought
them. But we had to obey them because we were outnumbered,"
Gondrong said, adding that several officers returned the next day
to confiscate those items they had missed the previous day.
Gondrong and dozens of other vendors staged a rally in front
of the City Council several days later, demanding the officers
return their belongings.
"There was no prior notice about the raid even though each of
the vendors pays a minimum of Rp 17,000 a month as a 'security
fee' to Cikini subdistrict officials," one of the protesters
said.
The chairman of the Jakarta Residents Forum, Azas Tigor
Nainggolan, called on the administration to stop the evictions.
"I suspect that (Governor) Sutiyoso's administration is
intentionally creating bad conditions in the city in order to
undermine the people's support for the current (central)
government," he said.
He alleged the evictions were related to efforts by Sutiyoso,
a retired Army general, to increase support for his former Army
colleagues in the upcoming presidential election. Three retired
Army generals will take part in the presidential election.
"Please, remain neutral. The administration should not
intervene in the political process. Instead, the administration
must ensure that all residents can cast their votes," he said.