Officials pressing vendors for payoffs

Officials pressing vendors for payoffs

JAKARTA (JP): A city official has deplored the rampant
collection of fees from unregistered street vendors by city
administration officials, terming it "a crime".

Chrisman Siregar of the Central Jakarta public order office
warned on Thursday that any officer caught conducting unofficial
fee collections would be punished according to regulations.

"City officers can only collect money from registered street
vendors in line with Law No. 18/1997. Otherwise, it's a crime,"
Chrisman said.

"Any vendor who is forced to pay must ask the officers to show
their official warrants to prevent them from being duped."

As reported earlier, unregistered street vendors, whose number
is estimated at 20,000, have repeatedly complained in the media
that city administration officers often threaten their lives when
demanding payoffs.

Lori, an unregistered vegetable vendor at Cengkareng Market in
West Jakarta, said on Friday the market was run ruthlessly by
"coordinators". He claimed they were appointed by West Jakarta
mayor Sarimun Hadisaputra.

"Each unofficial street vendor is forced to pay up to Rp
10,000 per day to the coordinators," Lori said.

"If one of us does not pay, hoodlums will come after us."

Mudjiman, 54, who sells bekicot (snails) in the Jatinegara
Market in East Jakarta, also talked of strong-arm tactics by the
officials and their henchmen.

"I've been selling snails for the past 10 years. Getting
beaten up by hoodlums, even public order officers, is not a new
thing... sometimes, I can't afford to spare the money," Mudjiman
said on Friday.(ylt)