Street traders pay Rp 3.2b in illegal levies a month
Street traders pay Rp 3.2b in illegal levies a month
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
City officials and hoodlums collected at least Rp 4.4 billion
(US$440,000) in illegal levies each month from 140,000 road side
businesses employing 193,000 people, an official said on Tuesday.
Head of the city office of the Central Bureau of Statistics
Masni Rani said the traders paid average illegal levies of Rp
23,000 a month.
"The levies are collected by individuals wearing the city
administration's brown uniform," Masni told reporters after
explaining the results of the first census on street traders to
City Governor Sutiyoso and the city's five mayors.
Sutiyoso claimed that he had instructed the mayors to take
strict measures against officers imposing illegal levies on
street traders.
"I have expressed my anger to the mayors. I urged them to fire
officers who were found guilty of collecting illegal levies," the
governor said.
He rejected the idea that the administration should impose an
official tax on street traders.
Sutiyoso said that the administration would not tax the
traders until it could provide them with proper work venues.
The idea of legalizing street vendors was first proposed by an
official at the city administration's economics bureau late last
year. The vendors responded positively, but it did not win any
support from the authorities.
Street traders in several areas here pay more in illegal
levies than the average amount of Rp 23,000 a month. Some said
that they had to pay an average of Rp 2,000 a day in sanitary and
protection fees.
Jakarta Residents' Forum (Fakta) last year said that an
investigation in Jatinegara market showed the illegal levies
imposed on about 500 street vendors in the area amounted to Rp 3
million a day.
According to the survey, conducted by the Central Bureau of
Statistics in June last year, half of the street traders were
Jakarta residents with city identification cards.
Around four percent of the traders had temporary
identification cards (Kipem) while the remaining 46 percent had
no Jakarta ID card.
Masni admitted that the current number of street traders could
double since the city, and the country in general, was still
suffering from the economic crisis.
"The informal sector has proven to be an alternative to
accommodate the unemployment problem," she said.
A street vendor's turnover was between Rp 100,000 and Rp
300,000 a day, she added.
Although the informal sector is regarded as a solution to the
unemployment problem, the city appears reluctant to help the
sector develop. Because many vendors operate on sidewalks and
roads, they often disrupt traffic and have became a target of
city public order operations.
No less than the Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob
Nuwa Wea himself has criticized the governor for evicting street
traders and called on the city administration to offer them
guidance instead.
Last year the city allocated Rp 40 billion for public order
operations and has provided Rp 60 billion this year.
City public order officers were often involved in clashes with
street traders during operations last year.
Locations known as "havens" for street traders include the
Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta, Pasar Minggu market in
South Jakarta and along Jl. Jatinegara in East Jakarta.