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)