Deregulation package may not affect vendors

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of vendors may be unaffected by the end of vendors' fees because most vendors are unregistered with the city.

Roadside vendors in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, said they never receive receipts from various daily operation payments they make to authorities and hoodlums, and see no future change in the situation.

They were responding to a deregulation package announced by the government Monday which included a list of local fees, which no longer includes roadside vendor fees. The list still needs approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs after consultations with the Ministry of Finance.

Councilors said Wednesday this would mean a cut of an average Rp 1.8 billion (US$733,795) a year collected from vendors.

Until June, collection of vendors' fees reached Rp 2.07 billion in the on-going 1996/1997 fiscal year. According to city figures from last year there were only 9,346 vendors at 259 legal sites, while there were at least 40,000 vendors operating without licenses.

While a few registered vendors said they were happy that daily fees would likely be stopped, others said illegal fees paid to market authorities, hoodlums, and occasional fees for district and subdistrict officials, totaled more than legal ones.

The daily fee for registered vendors varies according to wares and size of a vendor's table or display equipment, from Rp 500 to Rp 2,000 a day.

A fruit trader requesting anonymity said illegal fees sometimes reach Rp 3,500 a day. He was operating without a license in a market alley.

This included a sanitation fee of Rp 1,000, Rp 500 for a security guard, and Rp 2,000 for authorities in charge of the Tanah Abang market.

"The responsibility (of all paid parties) is to inform us of when there are guests coming (for inspections), then we close shop for a while," the vendor, who has operated for five years, said.

Outside the market, traders crowding the street said they also never receive receipts and did not even know about legal vendor fees.

Asep, who sells male underwear, said he pays at least a Rp 1,000 a day "for table money", and Rp 1,000 to hoodlums.

"Public order officials disappeared after the incident," he said, referring to a Jan. 27 riot when a mob burned down a nearby district office.

Public order officials, who allegedly drove out illegal vendors after demanding money from them, were cited by vendors as the cause of the riot. Mayoralty officials used to ask for Rp 500 to Rp 1,500 a day, they said.

Vendors were reluctant to say whether they would register with authorities if legal fees were stopped. The city has been trying for years to curb the growth of roadside vendors, who have increased traffic congestion.

"I'm already very lucky to be able to operate on market grounds," the fruit trader said. Without inside connections, he said it would be impossible to work there. (anr)