City to oust more illegal vendors

City to oust more illegal vendors

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration is apparently getting outfoxed by a group
of Senen street vendors as evidenced by the illegal sellers'
return to business two weeks ago after being forcefully evicted
last month.

However, the administration is not losing its will to fight on
as they plan to do some more forceful evicting in the very near
future.

Sutristiono, head of the Senen district public order agency,
told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that the city had been in the
process of systematically evicting the vendors around the Senen
district.

The city had earlier evicted vendors in front of Senen market
and under the Senen overpass. It will continue to execute the
raids on those near the Planet Senen Youth Sports Hall, the
Monument of National Social Solidarity Day, the Senen train
station and along Jl. Kramat.

Sutristiono said that the city would warn the vendors before
each raid, giving them time to move out voluntarily.

"We will only use force after we warn them," he claimed.

The official then stated that the city had been considering a
new place to relocate them so they would never come back.

The latest eviction in the area took place on July 31 in which
around 1,000 street vendors were evicted from their 400 makeshift
kiosks that occupy three of four lanes along Jl. Pasar Senen in
front of Senen market, causing heavy traffic congestion each day.

Earlier, Central Jakarta Mayor Hosea Petra Lumbun said that
his municipality would continue to go after all illegal street
vendors in Senen Raya, Kemayoran, Gunung Sahari, Tanah Abang and
the vicinity National Monument (Monas) Park.

"Their presence is violating Bylaw no. 11/1988 on public
order, and has caused a chaotic situation from Senen bus terminal
to Kramat theater," he said.

Such a situation could foster social unrest and crime, which
is already considerably high, the Mayor warned.

"Central Jakarta, which is the country's center of business
and administration, must be freed from this filth," he said in
reference to the squalid kiosks that litter the sidewalk and the
main roads, and which do not have sanitation facilities.

The leader of the informally organized vendor group, Alex
Siagian, could not be contacted for a comment on the plan.
However, he has called on the administration to give them a
warning before any raids.

Since 1997, the administration has provided space around Senen
market for street vendors but the number has increased to such a
point that they have overflowed onto the streets, effectively
squatting on the already congested public thoroughfares.