City Hall bans traders of pirated VCDs in Glodok

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration announced on Monday that traders of pirated VCDs are prohibited to run their businesses at the area around the Glodok Harco building complex.

"Street vendors are welcome to run their business as usual at the area as long as they don't sell pirated or pornographic discs," Deputy Governor for Administrative Affairs Abdul Kahfi told reporters at a media conference at City Hall.

Some 300 vendors of pirated VCDs have been selling their merchandise to locals and foreigners from stalls occupying the entire front part of the complex, the sidewalk and a big part of the street located in front of the building, Jl. Hayam Wuruk.

The vendors ran amok on Saturday after police conducted a morning raid against them. The incident turned into a large riot when groups of youths joined the vendors and vandalized and burned a number of buildings and shops along the busy streets of Jl. Gajah Mada and Jl. Hayam Wuruk and adjacent areas.

According to Kahfi, the rioting caused damages to buildings and shops alone of an estimated Rp 1.440 billion (US$180,000).

The amount, he said, excluded financial losses suffered by traders and shop owners, who had to close their businesses during the weekend.

A McDonald's outlet at Gadjah Mada Plaza and a BMW show room suffered the largest damages of some Rp 500 million each.

Rioters also damaged city facilities, including scores of traffic lights and concrete flower boxes.

Kahfi said that it was the hope of the city administration that businessmen and other street vendors in the area could resume normal business operations as soon as possible.

Data from the city administration reveals that Harco Glodok alone is home to some 600 street vendors, 300 of whom are selling pirated VCDs of movies, karaoke, and pornography.

In general, the overall situation at the predominantly Chinese business district was secure on Monday, although burned spots on some buildings and shards of shattered windows still colored the area.

The damaged Hoka Hoka Bento and McDonald's outlets at Gadjah Mada Plaza opened their businesses as usual with workers seen fixing broken windows.

Many shop owners were unable to open their businesses as the Harco Glodok shopping center was still sealed off by some 50 police officers deployed to safeguard the area.

Some shop owners were seen cleaning up their stores and merchandise.

Many of the businessmen planned to resume business on Tuesday because the stores are their main sources of earnings. However, many said that their activities will depend on the security in the area.

"We have to open the stores as soon as possible because closed shops still have expenses. Besides that, we want to tell customers that we're still here," one audio store owner said.

But some traders daringly opened their shops already.

"I think the situation is safe now," said one shop owner.

Januar, a staff employee of PT Harco Indah, which manages the Harco Glodok building, said tenants of the 600 stores in the building met with the management on Monday morning to discuss their plans and the security of the area.

According to him, rioters set ablaze two audio stores at Harco Glodok on Monday.

He explained that management will focus efforts to repair the building and its facilities so store owners can resume their businesses.

Januar insisted that store owners actually have no problems with traders of pirated VCDs.

"Both can run their businesses together because both traders are selling different types of goods," he said.

Another store owner added: "They pose no threat to us, but we did not know that they would react in such a violent way to the raid conducted by the police."

According to Jakarta Police chief May. Gen. Nurfaizi, his men have detained eight men in connection with the incident.

"Five of them have been named as suspects," he said briefly.

A police source identified the five as Endang Mariyadi, believed to have started the rioting, Herry Tampubolon, fighting against policemen, Syamsir Marbura, charged with arson, Daniel Simatupang, charged with vandalism, and lastly, Mohammad Firmansyah, arrested for possession of 39 illegal VCDs.

Separately, House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung regretted on Monday the police raid.

"We think that the momentum in conducting the raid was not right. Why did the police conduct the raid on May 13?" Akbar said, referring to the mass riots which hit the city two years ago.

He said he would soon summon National Police chief Lt. Gen. Rusdihardjo and question him about the Glodok raid.

He said he would ask Rusdihardjo to explain why the raid was conducted by National Police officers instead of the local West Jakarta Police.

"Today or tomorrow, I will telephone the National Police chief," said Akbar, who is also the chairman of the Golkar Party.

Although supporting the purpose of the raid to crack down on pirated VCDs, Akbar feared the negative image caused by the riots could hamper the nation's economic recovery efforts. (09/06/nvn/ylt/jun)