Fate of Senayan vendors remains up in the air

Fate of Senayan vendors remains up in the air

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Street vendors and cafe owners in the eastern parking area of the
Bung Karno Sports Complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, expressed
relief that a plan to remove them had been delayed, but they
remain confused about their future.

Edi, a sate padang (skewered meat with curry sauce) vendor,
said on Sunday the sports complex management had yet to make
clear its new policy.

"We haven't heard anything from the management about our
presence here. Will there be a deadline to move out of here for
good or to a new location in the complex?" he told The Jakarta
Post.

The sports complex management had ordered the vendors and cafe
owners to leave, a favorite weekend destination for Jakartans,
because it planned to develop the area.

The management had planned to clear the area of vendors during
a three-day operation from Friday to Sunday. On Thursday,
however, the vendors and cafe owners held a rally at the City
Council building, demanding a transparent policy and a chance to
earn a living.

Yohanes Rahawadan, one of the cafe owners, said the
councillors had asked the sports complex management and the
Central Jakarta mayor to delay the evictions. Rahawadan's wife
Martha Kase, who is a former national athlete, coordinated the
rally on Thursday.

Governor Sutiyoso told reporters that he knew nothing about
the planned evictions.

Sutiyoso has said that Senayan stadium, which is managed by
the central government, should be handed over to the city
administration following the implementation of regional autonomy.

Vendors at the sports complex also questioned the management's
policy of collecting between Rp 2,000 (23 US cents) and Rp 5,000
daily from the vendors, and the Rp 420,000 monthly fee charged to
the owners of 17 cafes located across from the Hilton apartments.

The management has said that the location currently occupied
by the cafes would be converted into a greenbelt.

"We were allowed to open our businesses here and we pay the
fees, although we don't know where the money goes because there
is no security or sanitation provided. The management should have
spoken with us before coming up with a plan to evict us.

"We agree with the plan to establish a park here, but we just
need a guarantee that we will be allowed to stay in business,"
Rahawadan told the Post.

However, some people believe the plan to shut down the cafes
came about because many of the cafe owners broke an agreement not
to sell alcoholic drinks.

Rahawadan admitted that his cafe sold alcohol, "but only to
prominent guests of the cafe". He claimed that he stopped selling
alcohol soon after the management distributed a circular on the
planned evictions.

He said at least seven other cafes also sold alcohol. "We are
now establishing an association, so should there be another
breach of the agreement with the management we ourselves would
take action against the guilty party," he said.

Next to his cafe, a group of people were standing beside their
cars drinking, while cafe workers pulled beers out of an ice
chest and poured them into plastic bags.