Complaints of small traders

Complaints of small traders

From Republika

In the Kuningan district, a large retailer (Yogya Supermarket) is operating now. Being a resident of the area and a small retailer, I am concerned with the establishment of the supermarket, which carries "conglomerating" overtones.

Kuningan, as one of the districts with the lowest per capita income in West Java, is packed with small and medium traders who still need guidance and protection from the local administration. Moreover, I have read about a ruling, distributed by the Retailers Association and Shop Management, that large retailers are not permitted to operate in district capitals.

Aside from its negative impact on small traders like us, the regulation should be revised. Considering the economic condition of the Kuningan district, even without the existence of the above regulation, the government should have taken the right move to reject the applications of large retailers who plan to operate in this region. Or the administration should at least grant protection to small traders by providing them with small capital funds.

Rumors in Kuningan have it that the administration is busy selling several strategic locations for the purpose of building market centers for large-scale traders. We do not know if these rumors are true or not, but we really hope that the authorities would consider the fate of small traders, who are too weak to compete with trading giants.

We are not asking the Kuningan authorities to make unrealistic dreams come, but they should at least amend the present ruling or review it. Do not pawn the lots as securities for the sake of personal interests and certain persons, lest the portion of the development cake -- already little for small people -- becomes smaller in the end.

YUDI MAKSUD AK

Kuningan, West Java