Food stall owners vow to seek compensation

JAKARTA (JP): The Roadside Food Stall Owners Cooperative vowed yesterday to continue pressuring the government to compensate them for losses suffered during the free-meal programs organized in March by former minister of social services Siti Hardijanti Rukmana.

Cooperative head Sastoro said at least 13 fellow traders sought help from related bodies, including the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises, in April to clear their unpaid meals worth Rp 7 million (US$600).

However, they received no appropriate response, he said.

"But we'll continue to ask for compensation from the government and I believe the (new) government will meet our request or else we'll pursue legal avenues," Sastoro told The Jakarta Post.

The charity event was designed to temporarily provide meals for Jakartans, especially lower-class workers who had lost their jobs as a result of the monetary crisis.

In highly publicized ceremonies, the then minister Hardijanti, former president Soeharto's eldest daughter popularly known as Tutut, launched her scheme and invited selected unemployed residents to receive the free meals.

The program was launched following her father's pledge to donate his and his ministers' salaries to the poverty alleviation program.

The meals were paid for with the Rp 40 million she distributed to the city's five mayoralties for the poverty alleviation campaign.

Tutut herself had collected a total of some Rp 3 billion for the nationwide scheme.

During the program some 15,000 boxes worth Rp 1,500 each were provided by about 400 food stalls in all five mayoralties.

The meals, consisted of rice, half an egg, vegetables and a piece of tempeh, were given to the needy in return for the coupons the latter collected at their respective sub district officials.

Each stallholder was supposed to give the meals to 50-odd people who had been given coupons, Sastoro said. The 13 complainants had each received Rp 525,000 in advance payments.

"But more people, mostly without coupons, turned up and demanded for the meals, claiming that they also deserved the meals because they were unemployed and poor," he said.

"The stallholders could not shun them because the organizers did nothing to stop them. So they still suffered losses."

He gave no reason why the cooperative only exposed the problem after Tutut was dismissed from her position last month a few days after Soeharto resigned the presidency.

The cooperative has opened a hotline center to help other stallholders who might have experienced the same problem during Tutut's campaign.

"There might be other owners who did not report their losses. Not to mention those who are not members to the cooperative. I heard some complained their fees were not paid by the program organizers," Sastoro said.

He also accused the free meal program of being ineffective and looking like a "Robin Hood" campaign.

"It was incorrect to let unemployed or poor people get free food from other poor people who worked night and day to support themselves," he said.

He said many food stall owners had also lost their livelihoods because of the economic crisis.

"About 25 percent of our 4,500 members in Jakarta have closed their businesses. Some of them went back to their villages, others took work with other owners," said Sastoro.

He lambasted Tutut for using the program only to gain support and sympathy from the poor.

"This was never a rescue program. It was only a hura-hura (enjoyment) event during which she received lots of money donated by businesspeople for this program," he said. (cst)