Plant sellers protest over expulsion plan
Plant sellers protest over expulsion plan
JAKARTA (JP): A total of 40 decorative plant traders along Jl.
T.B. Simatupang, South Jakarta, went to the City Council
yesterday to protest an expulsion order.
They told members of the Council's Commission A, which is in
charge of government, security and public order affairs, that the
South Jakarta mayoralty is forcing them to move away next week
because the site will be used to build gutters.
"We demand that the authority give us more time, at least
until next Idul Fitri holiday when we usually get many orders. We
need time and money to move to the new site," said Her Harahap,
spokesperson of the delegation.
She explained that there are 85 traders currently operating
along Jl. T.B. Simatupang who were forced to move from locations
in Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta in 1989.
"Now we will be forced to move again as the state-owned
highway company PT Bina Marga, the owner of the land, is going to
use the site to build water ducts along the toll roads currently
being built," Harahap said.
She said that the traders demand more humane treatment as most
of them have so far fulfilled their obligations, including paying
sanitary fees of between Rp 1,000 (45 US cents) to Rp 2,000 per
location per day to the Cilandak administration.
"Now is not the right time to ask us to move. We don't have
any money because plants haven't been selling well due to the
long dry season. We are still waiting for the rainy season," she
said.
Lastri, one trader, said that the Cilandak administration has
issued an order requiring them to leave the site in seven days,
otherwise law and order officers will bulldoze their plants.
She said that the officers who dispensed the eviction orders
claimed to come from Bakorstanasda, the Jakarta office of
National Security Coordinating Agency whose officers have had
experience in handling demolition and eviction activities in
other locations.
"I begged them for mercy, but one of the officers even asked
'who asked you to come to Jakarta?'in return," Lastri said.
The traders also claim they paid between Rp 500,000 to Rp 1
million each in 1989 to the Cilandak administration in a bid to
secure a location at the site.
No compensation
Another trader, Dedi, acknowledged that the South Jakarta
mayoralty has provided an area in Srengseng Sawah to accommodate
them.
"However this offer has been rejected as it is too far away
from our customers. And we doubt they would be willing to travel
that far," he said.
He also said that most of the sellers are not only selling
decorative plants but also offer services in planting, designing
and landscaping in customers' houses.
Councilor Asaari Fatommy briefed the sellers that the South
Jakarta mayoralty could not do anything about the plan because
the land is owned by an institution outside its supervision.
"I have contacted the deputy mayor, who said that there will
be no compensation. The plan can not be delayed because all the
facilities now under construction are scheduled to be finished by
next March," Fatommy said.
But he called for a peaceful conclusion so as to enable the
traders to save their goods and move to the new site in stages.
"Bakorstanasda will not take part in the eviction unless there
is a riot threatening people's security," Fatommy said, asking
them not to do anything that could provoke physical clashes.
(yns)