Senen traders have sorry story to tell
Senen traders have sorry story to tell
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A picture of gloom was painted by Heri, 25, a clothes trader
whose kiosk was completely destroyed in Sunday's fire at Blok IV,
Senen Market, Central Jakarta, which devastated almost all the
kiosks in the area.
"This was the only kiosk owned by my family ... And now it's
gone," Heri sighed.
He told The Jakarta Post that his father and mother, who live
in Bandung, West Java, were now depressed as a result.
"When they were informed, they were shocked and found it hard
to believe that our kiosk had gone," Heri said.
Heri recalled his family lost all seven of their clothes shops
when a massive fire gutted the same area on Nov. 28, 1996,
destroying hundreds of kiosks in the vicinity.
In the aftermath of the fire, Heri's family opened two shops
in the same area.
"Unfortunately, the protracted economic crisis has put heavy
pressure on our ailing business," said Heri.
In 1998, his family reduced the business to one shop by
selling one of the two kiosks amid slow trading.
"As you can see right now, our remaining kiosk was destroyed
by fire, and we could not save even a single item of our
merchandise," Heri said, dejectedly.
He added that, due to the fire, his family had sustained at
least Rp 150 million (US$16,853) in losses.
To add to his disappointment, a day before the fire, he had
bought new stock for the shop.
"I spent Rp 5 million on it last Saturday," said Heri.
Heri blamed security guards and police officers who did
nothing to help kiosk owners save their property and even
prevented him from saving his belongings when the fire could
still have been brought under control.
"I attempted desperately to assure them (the police and
security officers) that I wanted to save my property, but to no
avail," said Heri.
Police still prevented shop owners from entering the premises
on Monday as they still wished continue their investigation into
the cause of the fire, which gutted more than 200 of the 327
kiosks in Block IV.
Hundreds of kiosk owners and employees were observed sitting
and standing in the vicinity, still shrouded in smoke from kiosk
debris.
A 50-year-old lady, a kiosk owner whose shop was likely
untouched by the fire, was not allowed to enter her kiosk located
at the outer edge of the fire-damaged compound.
"It's my shop. I just want to find out about the condition of
my merchandise. If somebody loots my property, will you be
willing to take responsibility for the losses ?" she protested to
police and security guards on the scene who restrained her from
entering.
Police arrested four people found looting goods while the fire
raged in the compound.
Separately, more than 100 kiosk owners and employees went to
City Hall to urge the governor to help them obtain compensation
for their losses and temporary space in the parking lot nearby as
replacement for their destroyed kiosks.
Raya Siahaan, head of the City Social Disturbances Monitoring
Center, who represented Governor Sutiyoso at the meeting with the
fire victims, vowed to respond to the victims' demands "within a
week."
"We promised to provide a parking lot nearby for their use in
lieu of the gutted compound. We will also help you to obtain
compensation from the developer, PT Jaya Real Propertindo," said
Raya.
Heri had high hopes of obtaining compensation from the
developer for its carelessness in running and maintaining the
shopping area.
Although the city administration vowed to provide a parking
lot nearby in lieu of the fire-damaged area, Heri said he could
not yet reopen for business.
"We're broke now. How can we possibly reopen our shop unless
we have money?" he said.