No-gift policy hits parcel business hard

No-gift policy hits parcel business hard

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Parcel vendors who for years enjoyed a thriving business are
feeling the heat of a new political reality that frowns on the
giving and receiving of holiday gifts.

Dozens of parcel vendors from Greater Jakarta staged a protest
on Tuesday at the House of Representatives and the office of the
Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), to demand that the KPK
retract an earlier statement calling for state officials to treat
holiday gifts as bribes.

"That statement has killed our business," said Boil, who runs
a parcel business on Jl. Haji Samali in Pasar Minggu, South
Jakarta.

He said that in past years his shop had sold 40 percent of its
prepared parcels 10 days before Idul Fitri, which this year falls
on Nov. 14. "So far this year we have not sold a single parcel."

In response to the vendors' demand, a group of House
legislators said they would ask the KPK to soften its stance on
holiday gifts.

"We will do our best to help find a solution to the problem
facing these vendors, hopefully within 24 hours," said Khofifah
Indar Parawansa, a member of House Commission VI for industry and
trade.

KPK chairman Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas last week asked
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who during the election
campaign portrayed himself as the anticorruption candidate, to
prohibit state officials from receiving gifts in connection with
their positions.

He said those officials who had already accepted Idul Fitri
gifts should donate them to the needy.

Gift parcels also are given at Christmas and other major
holidays, usually by subordinates to their superiors, a custom
that can be traced back to the kingdom era of the country when
vassals paid tribute to their king in return for certain
privileges.

Another parcel vendor, Oding, said his shop had a customer
from a state enterprise cancel an order for about 1,000 packages.

The vendors said customers from banks, private companies and
state enterprises were the backbone of their business, comprising
as much as 60 percent of total orders.

The traders said they had already invested from Rp 30 million
(US$3,260) up to billions of rupiah to prepare their Idul Fitri
parcels.

Gift packages containing food sell for about Rp 500,000, while
parcels containing ceramic or glassware can cost up to Rp 6
million.

There does seem to be one positive outcome of this new
aversion to gift parcels: It has brought together for the first
time vendors from Cikini and Manggarai in Central Jakarta, and
Tebet, Cilandak, Pondok Indah and Pasar Minggu in South Jakarta.

"Because of this we now know each other. We will form an
association next year," one of the vendors, Irwan, said.
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