Councilors want postponement of stall demolition

JAKARTA (JP): City councilors have asked the West Jakarta mayoralty administration to postpone the demolition of food stalls on Jl. Kebon Jeruk XVIII until the end of this week, pending the construction of a new location to accommodate the stalls' operators.

"We agree to the mayoralty's plan to move the stalls. I believe this must occur because of changes in city spatial planning. The question now is where should they be moved," said city councilor Hotman Tambunan, who presided over a meeting with vendors from West Jakarta yesterday.

Fifteen vendors from West Jakarta, who claimed to represent 23 vendors operating along Jl. Kebon Jeruk XVIII, met city councilors of commission B on the economy to protest against the mayoralty administration closing their business site.

Wis Mulyadi, a spokesman for the vendors, said that early last month they were given notice by the mayor's office that their operation licenses would terminate one month later.

Mulyadi added that the licenses, code JB-067 which legalized their operations, were given to them last year.

"To our dismay, one month later, we received a demolition order," Mulyadi said, "No reason was given for either the notice or the order. But we suspect we are being ousted because we are situated along the entrance way to a newly opened hotel, the Emerald."

According to Mulyadi, prior to presenting this case to the City Council, the vendors had met with Ibrahim Usja, a mayoralty official in charge of economic affairs and had asked him for leniency, but Ibrahim refused their plea.

Mulyadi said they were not illegal food stall operators because they had operation licenses and that some of them had been operating there for seven years.

The government cannot simply get rid of them, Mulyadi said, demanding that they at least be allowed to operate there in a "collapsible" manner -- in which they can take down their stalls each night -- or be given a new location in a nearby area. (arf)