Eviction of VCD street vendors in Glodok a sham

Leo Wahyudi S and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Last week's eviction of street traders from in front of the Harco shopping center in Glodok has turned out to be another waste of time and energy as most of them have already reoccupied their sidewalk spots to sell electronics goods and pornographic VCDs openly despite the presence of security officers in the area.

And so, it appears to be business as usual once again. During a visit by the Post on Thursday, many shoppers were to be seen buying the traders' merchandise, mostly cheap electronics goods like small radios and tape recorders, remote controls, TV antennas, and, of course, illegal VCDs.

Pirated VCDs, including pornographic ones with racy covers, were everywhere to be seen on the stands erected by the traders along the street, just under the Harco shopping bridge.

"Want to buy a porno VCD?" a vendor said quietly as The Jakarta Post approached.

The situation was relaxed. A policeman passing in front of the vendor cast an indifferent glance at the hard-core VCDs without saying a word.

"Actually, I'm a bit worried. But what else can we do? What's important is that if they evict us again, I'm going to run so that they can't arrest me," said Udin, who has been selling illegal VCDs in Glodok for five years.

Following the late-evening, unheralded move against the vendors on Dec. 9, the municipality's public order office offered to move the vendors to the administration-managed Pasar Pagi market on Jl. Perniagaan.

But the vendors refused to be relocated, saying they were afraid that buyers would not come to the new location.

They also said that they sold illegal VCDs because of high demand from the public.

The administration and police have repeatedly conducted raids on the vendors and evicted them, but to no avail as the producers remain untouched.

The vendors are considered to be the major cause of congestion along Jl. Hayam Wuruk as they not only occupy the sidewalks but also part of the street.

Moreover, most of the vendors have violated an agreement they made with the municipality in 2000 that forbids them from selling pirated cassettes and video compact discs (VCDs), as well as pornographic VCDs.

West Jakarta Mayor Sarimun Hadisaputra said that he was trying to seek a win-win solution by considering allowing them to trade at Harco during the evenings so as to avoid the traffic congestion that the vendors' caused during office hours. He said a similar solution had been successfully tried with the street vendors in front of the Citraland mall.

Meanwhile, urban poor activists and experts urged the West Jakarta municipality on Wednesday to take a participatory approach involving the public in its efforts at resolving the problem.

Wardah Hafidz from the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) suggested "a genuine dialog" between the mayor and the street vendors in a bid to find a win-win solution.

"There is still tension between the municipality and the vendors, so I think the officials should not offer them a set solution but rather involve them in resolving the issue," she told The Jakarta Post.

She said the dialog should produce a written agreement under which the vendors would pledge to limit their numbers and maintain public order. Such an agreement, Wardah suggested, should also state sanctions for both public order officers and vendors who violated the agreement.

"The public order officers should also be brought under control so that they will not take bribes or levy protection money from the vendors."

Urban planning expert Marco Kusumawijaya referred to the administration's apparent ignorance of the fact that the main reason for the presence of the street vendors was its insensitive urban policies.

"They think the street vendors are a problem that will diminish eventually. The fact is, street vendors are here to stay as the economic crisis has increased the number of unemployed, especially in the capital.

"If only the administration acknowledged their presence, we could develop a more inclusive approach to city planning," he told the Post.

Another expert, Irwanto, from the Atma Jaya Catholic University, claimed that the administration's urban policies were based solely on commercial considerations, with relocated street vendors having to pay for trading space regardless of their financial capabilities.

"If the administration wants to relocate the vendors, then they should be subsidized. Moreover, the location should be strategic and give the vendors the same economic benefits they had at their previous trading spots," he told the Post.