Kebon Kembang traders upset after recent fire

Kebon Kembang traders upset after recent fire

By Maria Andi

BOGOR, West Java (JP): Six thousand kiosk owners have been
left to ponder their futures in the wake of a fire which razed to
the ground their shops in the Kebon Kembang market building and
officially claimed 10 lives.

Twenty-two people have been questioned in connection with the
fire, the cause of which is still uncertain.

The traders told The Jakarta Post yesterday that they have
routinely been fooled by the authorities every time their shops
have been destroyed by fire in the past.

"Every time after a fire the authorities had the market
structure rebuilt, not renovated. Traders then had to buy new
shops or quit," said Atun, one of the frustrated kiosk owners.
"We would have spent less on the new kiosks if the building had
only been repaired, not totally rebuilt."

According to the traders, the market, called Pasar Anyar
before it was rebuilt in 1989, was destroyed by fires in 1956,
1976 and 1986.

Their kiosks, which were burned down last Thursday, were
bought from a private developer PT Braja Mustika, which built the
market after the 1986 fire.

They said that officials would not confirm if the market would
be rebuilt or renovated, which developers tend to opt for if the
building has not suffered too much technical and structural
damage.

The Bogor administration built the new market building after a
fire in 1986. The three-story market, called Kebon Kembang, was
burned last Thursday. The fire is believed to have started in the
Blok B area of shops, one of the five blocks the Ramayana
department store occupies, on the top floor.

Rizaldi, whose kiosk is located in the basement with the other
vegetable sellers, said Thursday that the fire burned all of his
merchandise worth Rp 60 million. "We had just paid five years
worth of monthly installments at Rp 400,000 each before the
inferno."

"That's enough for us. It's now time for us to speak up after
the authorities have been turning a deaf ear to our complaints
for years," said another trader, Samun, who is typical of the
kiosk owners with an average of five million rupiah worth of
merchandise.

Hundreds of vegetable sellers and small-time traders from the
market plan to stage an official protest today.

Meanwhile, although the search for more fire victims was
officially ended by Bogor Mayor Eddy Gunardi on Saturday, members
of the rescue team, ambulances and fire engines were still
roaming around the fire site yesterday.

A small fire was still smoldering on the second floor
yesterday.

Rescue team members would not confirm if they were seeking
more victims. They brushed away reporters who were dissatisfied
with the official death toll stated by the mayor, who announced
last Saturday that only 10 people, all Ramayana department store
employees, were killed in the fire.

Earlier reports in the media stated that at least 76 people
had been trapped to death in the burning building last Thursday.

"We are ready to search for more victims on the ground and on
the second floor. But we are waiting for further instructions," a
rescue team member, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Post

The Red Cross Hospital morgue was quiet yesterday. The door
was locked and there were no people looking for the bodies of
relatives.

Ramayana's Regional Manager Imam Prastono said that he had
received an official memo from the hospital, which stated that 76
bags had been sent to the hospital; 10 contained human bodies
while the remaining 66 reportedly contained coal and other
materials.

Bogor police say they have conducted a thorough check of the
number of Ramayana's employees working the day of the fire to
determine the number of missing employees. Only 10 are said to be
missing, according to officials.

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