Market operation to be resumed
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration will resume selling essential foodstuffs directly to the public at reduced prices following last week's riots, a senior official says.
Chief of the city's logistics agency Zawawi said the move was necessary because foodstuffs were becoming scarce and prices had skyrocketed because countless shops and wholesale stores were looted and destroyed during the riots.
According to Zawawi, the agency had 382,000 tons of rice and 166,000 tons of sugar in stock. He declined to say when the market operation would begin.
He said that in the planned operation, rice of standard quality would be sold for as low as Rp 1,200 a kilogram and high- grade rice for Rp 1,775 a kilo, Antara reported.
Food prices in the city skyrocketed following massive riots Thursday, with traders saying supplies were scarce because of widespread looting of wholesale stores.
In some South Jakarta traditional markets, a kilogram of meat rose to between Rp 35,000 (US$3.50) and Rp 40,000 a kilo from just Rp 15,000 a kilo earlier last week.
Meanwhile, National Logistics Agency spokesman Masykur Sulaiman said the agency chief, Beddu Amang, had asked local administrations across Indonesia to arrange market operations in their areas.
The plan to resume market operations, especially in riot-torn Jakarta, was ordered on Friday by Ginandjar Kartasasmita, coordinating minister for economy, finance and industry/chairman of the National Development Planning Board.
Ginandjar said that to alleviate people's economic hardships, the government would also donate essential commodities to the most needy and to restore distribution.
He conceded that the few days of rioting, triggered by the death of four Trisakti University student protesters on May 12, had worsened the economic calamity.
The riots, where hundreds of shops, banks and offices were looted and destroyed, have disrupted the economy, he said.
Ginandjar asked Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander Gen. Wiranto to secure the planned market operation until Jakarta was safe enough for shops to resume business.
On the free commodities for the needy, Ginandjar said the government had prepared 100,000 packages, each containing five kilos of rice, one kilo of sugar, one liter of cooking oil and 10 packets of instant noodles.
Thomas Dharmawan, chief of the Association of Indonesian Traders of Food and Mineral Water, called on the government to start the market operation soon because the crisis was deepening.
"We hope ABRI will secure the operation by escorting trucks carrying commodities for distribution," he said.
Last Thursday, Jakarta Deputy Governor of Administrative Affairs Abdul Kahfi Bakri said the administration planned to sell basic commodities in residential areas and business districts affected by the riots.
"We guarantee there will be no food shortage in Jakarta," he told journalists. (pan)