Hard times for campaign materials vendors
Hard times for campaign materials vendors
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta
The July 5 presidential election will probably produce no clear
winner for the country's top job, forcing the two winners to
contest a runoff scheduled for Sept. 20. In between, they are
likely to exhaust all resources at their disposal in a bid to win
the presidency.
As a result, there could be a shopping spree for campaign
paraphernalia, from T-shirts and watches to handkerchiefs bearing
the candidates' images, and it should be a moment when vendors
reap windfall profits from an intensified presidential campaign.
Such was the prediction among vendors to entertain themselves
in the midst of a slump in the sale of materials related to
presidential campaigning, although campaigns have already been
running for two weeks.
"That is our only hope -- for earning a small profit after the
current slump," Hasan, a vendor who runs a stall in the corridor
leading to the Senen electronics market, Central Jakarta, told
The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
He said that the current situation was not comparable with
that in the run-up to the April 5 legislative election.
"Back then, we could sell over 6,500 T-shirts bearing
political party logos or portraits of legislative candidates. But
now, we are lucky to peddle just one- or two-dozen T-shirts," he
said.
He set the price according to how many garments buyers ordered
from him. "If a buyer orders by the hundred, the garments are
available at Rp 5,000 apiece. However, we set a higher price of
Rp 6,000 to Rp 6,500 if orders are made by the dozen," he said.
Amid bearish sentiment, he said that, indirectly, the
candidate nominated by the Democratic Party, Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, had saved the day.
"When I was tired of waiting for customers, along came some of
his supporters who ordered up to 1,000 T-shirts. Last time, his
supporters from Manado, North Sulawesi, ordered 500 T-shirts," he
said, adding that T-shirts and watches bearing Susilo's image
were the most sought-after items.
In Southeast Asia's largest textile hub, Tanah Abang market,
West Jakarta, garment vendors experienced similar conditions.
Peggi, a garment vendor who usually sells children's apparel,
said that he was only able to strike a deal with customers for
printing one or two dozen T-shirts.
He blamed the infrequency of street rallies during
presidential campaigning for the slump in sales of campaign bric-
a-brac.
"More rallies mean that more people take to the streets
wearing T-shirts depicting their candidate of preference, but
we've seen none in the past two weeks," he told the Post.
As with his fellow vendors in Senen market, times were good
when Susilo supporters ordered a large number of campaign T-
shirts.
Moving eastward to Kenari market, Central Jakarta, conditions
were no better.
Yuni, a vendor who diligently watches her stalls on the side
of bustling Jl. Salemba, said that her greatest fortune so far
was when a member of the campaign team of National Mandate Party
(PAN) candidate Amien Rais ordered five-dozen T-shirts.
"I'll probably vote for Amien, because his T-shirts sell the
most," she said, chuckling.