City to launch pre-festive season order crackdown

City to launch pre-festive season order crackdown

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration will launch a crackdown
on security and order in the city ahead of the Christmas and Idul
Fitri celebrations, an official said yesterday.

Toha Reno, head of the city's public order subdivision, told
The Jakarta Post that the operation would have 11 initiatives
aimed at preventing upheavals in the city over the next five
months.

"The eleven steps include: maintaining security patrols;
supporting the neighborhood security program, especially at
night; controlling and supervising the prices of the nine staple
foods; and controlling the distribution of meat to counter
illegal sales during the peak seasons," Toha said.

The other steps are to maintain strict control and supervision
of entertainment spots, to crack down on social outcasts who tend
to disturb public order and security, to prevent possible fires
in the city, to abolish sidewalk vendors who disturb traffic
flow, to ensure the food sellers operate in an orderly fashion
during the fasting month, and to maintain the city's cleaning
programs.

"These steps will be conducted in continuous operations. The
market operation, for example, is intended mainly to prevent the
traders from arbitrarily increasing the prices of staple foods,"
Toha said.

"The operation will also deal with the rising number of
vagrants and beggars who entered the city from villages during
the current dry season. They came in throngs because the drought
makes their paddy fields and gardens dry, forcing them to lose
their regular income."

Toha said that special teams have been set up to run the
operations, which will be conducted jointly with related parties
and institutions, such as Jakarta Military Command, Jakarta
Police, City Land Transportation Agency and Jakarta Regional
Economic Bureau.

"We really want to anticipate all the possibilities that can
cause an upheaval in society. That is why many posts have been
put on alert to monitor the situation," he said.

The city's assistant of economic and development affairs,
Prawoto Danumihardjo, expressed confidence that the prices of
rice, beef, buffalo meat, palm oil and red chili will increase by
no more than 10 percent in the lead up to the Christmas, New Year
and Idul Fitri holidays.

Prawoto said the price increase reflected the rising demand
during the holidays.

"I hope people will not worry too much because we will try to
ensure the prices do not jump by more than 10 percent," he said.

Prawoto said his office would also ensure that the city was
supplied with enough food.

Reports from the Jakarta Regional Economic Bureau show that in
general the prices of staple foods, as of the third week of this
month, were relatively stable except for: palm oil which
increased by 24.44 percent; red chili by 10.59 percent; and rice
by 7.47 percent.

Rice supplies were estimated to be enough for 20 months, the
reports said.

The demand for rice in the city reached 2.250 tons per day,
according to the reports. The demand for sugar reached 23,000
tons per month and wheat 32,000 tons per month.

The reports said demand for palm oil was 500 tons daily, while
beef and buffalo meat demand reached 180 tons per day.

Local demand for chicken was 410 tons daily and chicken eggs
425 tons, according to the reports.

The bureau also predicted that in the lead up to Christmas,
the demand for vegetables, red chili, red onion and fruit would
increase by 10 percent.

The demand for vegetables will increase to 1,500 tons daily
compared to the usual 1,300 tons, red chili to 45.65 tons daily
from 41.5 tons, red onion to 62.59 tons daily from 56.9 tons. The
demand for fruit will also increase to 440 tons daily from 400
tons. (05/07)