Pasar Minggu traders protest gate closure

Pasar Minggu traders protest gate closure

JAKARTA (JP): Small-scale traders at the Pasar Minggu
marketplace protested yesterday at the authorities's decision to
close the west entrance because they say it hurts business.

Five persons representing 500 traders complained to the City
Council over the decision by PD Pasar Jaya, which manages the
market.

The traders said turnover has plunged by as much as 50 percent
since the western gate was closed recently, a move that left
shoppers with only one access -- through the front gate in the
east.

"Now shoppers rarely come to our kiosks because they are too
far from the main entrance. Most people simply shop at kiosks in
the front section," Jalaludin, the spokesman for the delegation,
told the city council's Commission B, which is in charge of
economic affairs.

He used his own garment business to illustrate his point,
saying that he now earns less than Rp 50,000 a day compared to Rp
100,000 before the closure.

The west gate previously provided access chiefly for shoppers
getting off of buses from Depok.

"Now, they have to go through the front gate and automatically
shop at the kiosks in that section because ours are too far from
the main entrance," said Jalaludin, who has been trading in the
area since the 1960s.

Jalaludin and his four colleagues said they were representing
500 traders located on the first floor of the Pasar Minggu
marketplace. Most of them sell ready-to-wear clothes.

They said that PD Pasar Jaya closed the western gate to stop
sidewalk vendors from overflowing into the market and to
encourage them to settle in the parking lot.

Rather than close the gate altogether, "We have asked PD Pasar
Jaya to build an iron gate which provides access to one person at
a time," Jalaludin added.

PD Pasar Jaya had not responded to the proposal up to
yesterday, he said explaining the reason why they had turned to
the City Council for help.

"We will go bankrupt if the gate remains closed because we
simply cannot compete with the other stores which are closer to
the main gate," Jalaludin said.

With the upcoming shopping boom ahead of Idul Fitri just
around the corner, the traders have a strong reason to feel
distressed by the closed gate policy.

Jalaludin said the policy benefits mostly garment traders on
the ground floor, who are their main competitors. "We are afraid
that we might be forced to close shop."

Council member M. Chaniago promised that the commission will
raise the matter with PD Pasar Jaya. (yns)