City resumes crackdown against vendors

Hundreds of street vendors from around the Gambir Railway station attacked city public order officers on Thursday after the officers confiscated the vendors' possessions just days after Idul Fitri celebrations.

The officers transported six truck loads of belongings confiscated from the vendors around the station in Central Jakarta to a warehouse in Cakung, North Jakarta.

The action enraged the hundreds of vendors effected, who then took revenge by attacking public order officers in their pick-up truck passing the station several hours after the raid.

Security guards managed to calm them down and no injuries were reported. But the incident caused damage to the truck and serious traffic jams.

Similar raids were conducted on the same day by the East Jakarta mayoralty in the Cawang area. However, there were no incidents reported as the vendors had cleared the site several hours before the raids.

Meanwhile, the north and east Jakarta mayoralties conducted raids against becak (three-wheeled pedicab) drivers on Wednesday night.

About 200 pedicabs are reported to have been in operation around the city recently.

In November, the city public order agency announced that raids against pedicabs had come to an end after seizing 11,405 pedicabs in five mayoralties.

The agency slowed down its evictions against street vendors before Ramadhan after public criticism from non governmental organizations and the central government, such as Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea.

Deputy governor of administrative affairs Abdul Kahfi said that after slowing down raids against street vendors and pedicab drivers during the fasting month, the five mayoralties were ready to again take stern action against street vendors.

"We will continue the crack down against them to enforce the city public order," he said.

However, Abdul refused to comment when asked whether the evictions worked or not.

The city administration organizes annual crack downs on "public order offenders", including street vendors, pedicab drivers and other informal workers. This year alone, it has spent about Rp 12 billion on the raids.

Some people questioned the effectiveness of the action as the offenders often returned regardless. Some others suspected administration officers were corrupt as it reported to have evicted thousands of offenders though they continued to operate.