Monas to be fenced, but it could be useless

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Administration has planned to erect a fence around the National Monument (Monas) park soon as a last-ditch effort to clear it of illegal traders, who have long been using the area day and night for selling various kinds of goods, despite regulations that forbid the activity.

Despite the planned measures, however, the traders said that their businesses were not under threat because they could still bribe some city officials to continue their businesses in the area.

The city park agency announced last week that the fencing project, which would cost about Rp 9 billion (around US$957,500), would begin in July. The funds will be taken from the 2002 city budget.

The city has so far spent billions of rupiah to beautify the national park, which still appears to be in a state of disrepair. Last year, the city administration budgeted Rp 9 billion to install 61,000 square meters of paving blocks at the northern and western ends of the park.

But problems are still lingering in the area as traders continue their businesses using unsightly plastic tarps and wheeled kiosks in the area. The goods they sell include various kinds of food, beverages, clothes, souvenirs and toys.

The appearance of the park is not only marred by the tarps and kiosks, but also by litter scattered about by many visitors and vendors.

"I'm not worried about the (fence) plan because we can still give money to officials in the city administration," said Aminah, 39, a food trader, who has been doing business there for about six years.

Aminah said that she was allowed to work in the area because she paid Rp 100,000 for "security" to a person who she believed had a relationship with officials at City Hall. She also has to pay Rp 2,000 per day for a garbage service.

She said it was evident that whomever she paid the money to was connected to the city officials because she had always been informed beforehand if public order officers were planning a crack-down in the area.

Aminah also added that all the illegal traders at Monas had to halt business temporarily whenever state guests were visiting the capital, or face punishment.

"We are definitely not allowed to do business there if foreign heads of state come here. Otherwise, they will seize our belongings," Aminah said.

Another vendor, who was speaking on condition of anonymity had a different story. This vendor runs a small business at a permanent open-air hall originally constructed for sheltering park visitors.

"I was allowed do my business there after meeting with an official in the City Hall and we made a deal,' the vendor admitted.

But the vendor denied a relatives' claim that the family was obligated to pay a large amount of money to government officials. The relative, who was listening to the conversation, said the vendor's family paid a large amount of money to bribe the officials before starting the business two years ago.

"No, we only give a small amount of money as an "expression of gratitude" for the official's help to allow us to do business here," said the vendor, adding that the business was off limits to local hoodlums who frequently demand "protection money" from other traders at Monas.

"Although there are many hoodlums here, no one dares to disrupt our business here as one of our relatives is a member of the presidential guard," the vendor added.

Previously, the head of the Central Jakarta park office Katherina Suryawati said that after the erection of the fence, the park would still be visible from the outside because the fence would be made of two-meter high iron rods with plenty of space between each.

"From outside, people will still be able to see the park," a secretary to the head of city park agency Wili Sijabat told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The fences will be constructed along Jl. Merdeka Selatan, Jl. Merdeka Barat and Jl. Merdeka Utara. Another side on Jl. Merdeka Timur, which borders the railway station of Gambir, had a fence built earlier by the state-owned train operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI).

Deputy Governor for administrative affairs Abdul Kahfi expressed his optimism that the project would be able to return the function of the park to a national monument, not a place of petty vendors and litter.

"We have expelled them (traders) from the parks, but they always return," Abdul told the Post in apparent exasperation.

But, Sumiati, a cigarette trader who has a kiosk on the border area between the park and Gambir railway station, expressed skepticism over the plan, saying that in this day and age in Jakarta, greed ruled everything.

"What cannot be solved with money nowadays?," asked Sumiati, whose kiosk occupies a plot in the Monas area, which belongs to PT KAI.