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.