Market management insist on demolishing Tanah Abang

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City-owned market management company PD Pasar Jaya said it was set on demolishing the Tanah Abang textile market for renovation, saying explicitly that it would ignore a court-issue asset preservation order on the market.

In response to a complaint filed earlier by Tanah Abang traders against demolishing the market, the Central Jakarta District Court had issued an asset preservation order.

"We will ignore the asset preservation order and go ahead with the demolition... The (market's) board of directors is ready to decide the time frame," Listyo Wismono, a lawyer for Pasar Jaya, announced at a press briefing on Thursday at the company's offices on Jl. Pramuka, Central Jakarta.

Also present at the briefing were Pasar Jaya president director Prabowo Soenirman and spokesman Nurman Adhie.

The company also said it would not wait for the result of an ongoing study by the University of Indonesia (UI), which was appointed to provide "a second opinion" on the market's actual condition.

Governor Sutiyoso, however, denied Pasar Jaya's stance.

"Pasar Jaya will not demolish the market until we receive the results of the UI study. Besides, the (final) decision rests with me," he said.

Listyo said the company had come to its decision in the name of public safety, because it feared the existing buildings would collapse.

Experts from the Bandung Institute of Technology recommended two options -- either reinforce the buildings in the market, or undertake complete renovation.

"We don't want to become a scapegoat if the buildings collapse and lives are lost during the asset preservation order period," Listyo said.

"We deem it necessary for us to defy the asset preservation order, since it goes against Law No. 1/2004 on state assets," he added.

Article 50 of Law No. 1/2004 stipulates that no single party may issue a preservation order on state or city assets.

Slamet Nurdin, a member of a special City Council committee established to resolve the dispute, condemned Listyo's statement.

"Such a statement is highly arrogant and is like ... a challenge to war, since it disregards the special committee's recommendation that a resolution would await the results of the UI study," said Slamet.