Expert hails closure of Tanah Abang kiosks

Expert hails closure of Tanah Abang kiosks

JAKARTA (JP): A senior criminologist from the University of
Indonesia, Purnianti, hailed the city's closure of illegal
warungs (kiosks) in Tanah Abang but urged the municipality to
find alternative jobs for the people it evicted.

When contacted yesterday, Purnianti said that the crackdown on
kiosks allegedly selling alcohol along Jl. Jatibaru, in the
heavily populated area in Central Jakarta, on Saturday, had
appeased residents.

"But the government can not close the kiosks without giving
the owners alternatives. If not, the evicted people could become
another problem for other areas," she said.

Hundreds of angry residents swamped dimly lit drinking stalls
and cheap hotels in the area and attempted to tear down the
buildings, which they believe have given their area a bad name.

Purnianti said that local outrage reached its peak when
residents of Kampung Bali began throwing stones at the kiosks and
hotels because city administration often neglected their reports.

"Tanah Abang is like a pot of boiling water. It could boil
over at any time if we can not handle it properly," she said.

If the municipality had taken notice of the residents'
complaints earlier, the recent violence could have been avoided,
Purnianti said.

Senen

In a related development, the Central Jakarta mayoralty
started cleaning up Senen market Saturday by deploying 277 men to
bring order to sidewalk vendors around Blok I to Blok VI, an
official said.

"Senen has a similar problem to that of Tanah Abang. Some of
the indicators that the area is prone to disorder are: an
increase in the number of sidewalk vendors, the existence of
hoodlums, the overcrowded terminals and the chaotic traffic,"
Central Jakarta Mayor Andi Subur Abdullah said.

Subur revealed earlier there were some 50 to 70 alleged
hoodlums operating in Senen and its adjacent areas, including
Kramat and Gunung Sahari.

"We found various illegal activities there including
prostitution, extortion and gambling. We intend to stomp them out
once and for all."

Saturday's operation, jointly held by the Central Jakarta
Military District Command, the police, the public works agency
and the mayoralty, ran from 2 a.m. until 9 p.m. The team threw
out 15 rusty trucks and confiscated some of the sidewalk vendors'
carts, umbrellas and scales.

"As with in Tanah Abang, most of the officials in charge of
managing the Senen market have been at their posts for more than
10 years. We realize it is a source of collusion and corruption
as the longer they stay, the bigger the chance for manipulation,"
Subur said.

For instance, he said, the chaotic market condition was caused
mainly by the sale of certain plots to vendors would could pay
the most.

"One kiosk of only 1 by half a meter in size is sold at Rp 1
million (US$200) to Rp 3 million. That's crazy," he said.

Moreover, various pirated products, including books, cassettes
and VCDs are sold at Senen market. This kind of practice must be
stopped, he said.

According to the mayoralty, nobody was arrested in the market
on Saturday.

Governor Sutiyoso pledged over the weekend to clean up Senen
market as part of the municipality's program to bring order to
several commercial areas in Jakarta.

"Senen market is the next target after Tanah Abang. Its
condition is not as bad as Tanah Abang's, but it still needs
special attention from the municipality," Sutiyoso said.

Based on municipality data, Senen market hosts some 1,870
traders, 20 percent of whom are considered illegal.

"I have already handed over the operation to the Central
Jakarta mayoralty," Sutiyoso said.

"I want every market in Jakarta to function as the people's
economic backbone. We can establish a market with high profits,
and markets in Jakarta have the potential to become major
business centers in Asia, such as the Mangga Dua market for
instance," he said.

In a bid to reach that goal, the municipality will continue to
bring order to city markets which are burdened by illegal levy
collections, corruption, collusion and hoodlums, he said.

"It's the city's job to make sure that those markets are
maintained healthily, economically and socially," he said.

After Tanah Abang and Senen, the municipality plans to bring
order to Kramat Jati market in East Jakarta and several business
centers such as Kota and Glodok, West Jakarta.

Besides the Senen operation on Saturday, the mayoralty also
deployed another 50 personnel to demolish 28 dimly lit kiosks and
seize 378 bottles of alcohol in Tanah Abang from 8.30 a.m. to 7
p.m.

Three houses were also demolished by their owners as part of
the city's plan to widen Jl. KH Mas Mansyur. (jun/edt)