Kuta incident leaves hawkers out in the cold

Kuta incident leaves hawkers out in the cold

By Putu Wirata

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): Kuta, one of the famous tourist
destinations on this island, was an international harbor a few
centuries ago. Then it was called Kuta-Mimba.

Nowadays, Kuta has been transformed into an international
holiday haven full of hotels, inns, restaurants, amusement
centers and all the facilities an international tourist can dream
of having.

Thousands of people from practically all over Indonesia are
fighting for space to eke a living there.

Until recently, cafes lined the exotic beaches until they were
demolished on the demands of local customary village leaders. An
estimated 2,500 hawkers and 1,500 roadside vendors are crowding
the beaches and streets of Kuta.

At night, prostitutes and beggars also take to the street,
fighting for tourists' money.

In the early hours of April 29, to the surprise of many, the
usually peace-loving indigenous Balinese attacked vendors, who
are mostly migrants. They ransacked or burned down hundreds of
the vendors' pushcarts.

The most tragic result of the incident was the murder of
Tojani Herlina, a hawker from Situbondo, East Java.

Lately, Kuta has been somewhat quiet with the absence of
hawkers from the streets and beaches. Indigenous residents patrol
the streets, stopping strangers for weapons.

The regent of Badung, Gusti Alit Putra, has promised to
relocate the frightened traders to Kuta Parking Center, about
three kilometers from the tourist center. But the plan has
received a cold response from the migrants, who think the
alternative area is not an appropriate place to do business.

"We thank Kuta people for allowing us to work in their area,
but with due respect to the regent's offer, we are not sure if
the parking center is a good place to make money," said
Zainuddin, the spokesman for the Kuta Traders Association, which
groups migrant traders.

Roadside vendors and hawkers mostly occupied Jl. Kartika
Plaza, Jl. Bakungsari and areas nearby. Their regular customers
are low-level employees of hotels and restaurants. A serving of
bakso (meatball soup) costs only Rp 2,000 from the stalls, while
a meal in a restaurant costs about Rp 11,000.

The hundreds of roadside traders on Jl. Kartika Plaza and Jl.
Bakungsari make a lot of money. A bakso seller can earn about Rp
1.4 million in a month, and save up to Rp 500,000 of this.

"I can earn five times as much as I did in my home town," said
Marijan, a bakso seller from Banyuwangi, East Java, who moved to
Kuta six months ago. He lost his pushcart in last month's
incident.

He plans to move to Nagara, about 30 kilometers west of
Denpasar, but says he will return when Kuta returns to normal.

Those who fiercely refused the government's relocation plan
are the hawkers.

"At the parking center, tourists come only to change cars and
few will buy anything. Our main customers are tourists who
sunbathe at the beach," said Tosim, a hawker from Madura, East
Java.

But he said he would take the offer if there was no other
choice.

Made Wendra, a Balinese customary village chief, said he
deplored the incident but he also called for the migrants to
better respect local customs. He said he could "understand" why
the locals went on the rampage.

"They (migrants) sell their goods in front of the pura
(temple) and in sidewalks and in narrow alleys," he said.

A Kuta resident who declined to be named said that many of the
migrants were "arrogant". "Although they know that they block our
way to the pura, they are angry when they are advised to find a
better place."

Following last month's incident, customary villages in Kuta
have been authorized to reorder their areas in place of Puskopad,
the cooperative run by the local Udayana Regional Military
Command, although its permit will not expire until 2009.

Kuta's indigenous residents organized night security patrols
and stop strangers to search for weapons following rumors that
the migrants want to take revenge for the attack.

Hawkers began to stream into Kuta in the 1970s when Kuta
started to become popular with Western travelers.

The local and migrant hawkers' success stories lured more
people from other islands to Kuta.

Some of the early hawkers have become very wealthy, and now
own hotels, restaurants, galleries or museums in Bali. Anak Agung
Rai, for example, owns Arma Museum, which has a wide collection
of paintings by famous artists such as Afandi, Raden Saleh,
Hendra Gunawan, Nyoman Gunarsa and the ancient Kamasan, paintings
about Balinese puppetry.

Twenty years ago, Kuta boasted only a few hotels and migrant
workers. "There was no problem between locals and migrants,"
Agung Rai recalled.

"Attacking others' property is unjustified, but migrants
should understand that they must not insult local culture," he
explained.

In the 1970s, Agung Rai walked around selling small statues
and decorative paintings. Public transport was a major problem
then and he would often spend the night in the local Banjar
Blaluan village hall when he was too exhausted to walk home.

Now, hawkers are ubiquitous in tourists resorts like Sanur,
Ubud, Kuta and Candidasa.

In Ubud, arrangements for traders are better than in Kuta. In
Ubud, customary villages permit hawkers to do business only in
places marked for them.

"Roadside vendors' stalls everywhere are often used by drunk
youngsters to hang around. Unless they are provided with special
space, they will disturb the peace," said a restaurant owner in
Ubud.

The times have changed radically, and while their numbers are
increasing, cultural sensitivity is becoming a problem.

"I know many of the gallery and hotel owners in Ubud were
formerly hawkers like us," says Made Kembar, a hawker from
Karangasem, Bali. "Who knows if we can be like them someday?"