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.