Eviction doesn't worry Glodok sidewalk vendors

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The recent series of evictions executed by the Jakarta administration has given rise to little other than a "well, whatever" type of response among "regular evictees".

Dozens of sidewalk vendors in the Glodok market, who erect their stalls at the sides of the market, which comes under the jurisdiction of the West Jakarta administration, were seen offering their wares to passers-by as usual on Monday despite the presence of a number of security officers.

Rusmi, 40, has been a street vendor in the area for some 12 years and claimed to be familiar with the "kinds of eviction" performed there.

"I've heard of an eviction plan but it's nothing new for me. They evict us every year, usually after the Idul Fitri holidays, but things always get back to normal again. It's an old story," Rusmi said.

But no eviction has taken place over the last two weeks.

Rusmi added that usually after getting evicted, she would wait for other vendors to resume trading before she did.

"It's just in case there's a second eviction within a couple of days. I would lose many goods should the officers seize them," she said.

Bernard, a vendor of pirated video compact discs (VCDs) and music CDs, had a similar view about the evictions of street vendors in the area, despite the fact that he has only been there for three months.

"I heard rumors that we were going to be evicted the other day but I don't know. As you can see, I'm still selling my goods here today," said the 22-year-old, while dusting off the trays displaying his CDs.

He said that although his friends were talking about the plan, they told him to be calm as news of evictions normally leaked out.

"So we can pack up our wares and we don't lose too much. And my friends also said that we'd be able to start trading again after a few days," he said.

Both Rusmi and Bernard, however, were luckier than the vendors who had their stalls on the other side of the road, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Central Jakarta administration, who were evicted after Idul Fitri two weeks ago.

"The vendors over there were evicted and as you can see it's clear now. I don't know where they moved because it's already crowded here," said Rusmi.

A gubernatorial decree issued in 1996 says that the monthly rental charge per square meter in the market is Rp 52,500 (US$6.2). Both Rusmi and Bernard admitted that they could not afford to rent space within the market and therefore hoped they would not be evicted.

"It's not that I don't want to have a stall in the market, but I'm just a small-scale vendor. In fact, I'm grateful that I can afford to buy food every day," said Rusmi.