Strikes and protests affect Jakarta Fair
JAKARTA (JP): The current political tension, rampant demonstrations and strikes by public transportation drivers in the capital seem to have all been factors preventing people from going to the one-month-long Jakarta Fair, traders and tenants said on Sunday.
A kerak telor (Jakarta traditional food) trader, Sopyan, admitted that his earnings since the opening of the fair on June 15 had not yet covered his Rp 400,000 (US$36) rental fee, due to lack of customers.
"Last year, the fee was covered in just one week, but this year people seem reluctant to come here," Sopyan, a resident of Warung Buncit, South Jakarta told The Jakarta Post.
The 32-year-old trader suspected that the drop in visitors was caused by the worsening political and security situation in the capital, marked recently by a number of bomb explosions, strikes and demonstrations, as well as another fair currently being held in Senayan, Central Jakarta.
"People, especially from Southern Jakarta, would rather go to Senayan than Kemayoran. I have heard that Senayan Fair also offers similar goods," Sopyan said.
Separately, a handicraft trader from Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Mahrup, added that, "Last year, many expatriates and people from outside Jakarta bought our products. Probably, it's just a beginning, I hope next week there will be more buyers".
He said many people visited his stand, located in hall B, a defunct plane hangar, alongside stands from other provinces. But the visitors were just looking around and did not buy many goods on offer.
Unlike in past years, no long queues were seen at the entrance gate on Sunday.
Visitors to the fair are required to pay an entrance fee of Rp 6,000 for adults and Rp 4,000 for children.
One of the visitors, Rudi, speculated that the low visitor turn-out might have been caused by the current security and political situation.
"However, I myself do not care about the political and security situation. I'm sure visiting the fair would be safe," Rudi, from East Jakarta, said.
He added that he brought his family to the fair for window- shopping and to enjoy the entertainment provided by the fair's organizer, not for shopping.
He said prices offered at the fair, for items such as clothes, were similar to prices at Mangga Dua shopping center in North Jakarta or Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta.
Meanwhile, the fair's project manager, Hari Rustjahjo, of PT Jakarta International Trader Fair (JITF) acknowledged that the political tension and security situation might discourage visitors.
"But we still have about three more weeks, I hope more people will visit the fair. I'm optimistic that our target of attracting 1.7 million visitors can be reached," Hari said on Sunday.
As of Saturday night, about 315,000 people had visited the fair, officially opened by Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri on June 15.
Hari noted that a group of manufacturers from Taiwan earlier canceled their participation in the fair because of the political and security situation.
He said a number of foreign countries, including Germany and the United States, which last year joined the fair, were absent this year.
This year's fair has been attended by Iran, Korea, Japan, Brunei and China.
Hari admitted that the strikes held by public transportation workers had caused a drop in the number of weekday visitors to 20,000 a day from the usual number of 35,000.
"The number of daily visitors reached 90,000 yesterday (Saturday) but last Sunday, we only received 50,000 visitors due to heavy rain," Hari said.
He said, as of Sunday afternoon, the amount of trade reached Rp 30 billion or 20 percent of this year's target of Rp 150 billion.
He said about 1,200 tenants rented a total of 30,000 square meters at the fairground with prices ranging from Rp 400,000 to 800,000 per square meter a month.
"We think they are still happy as we haven't receive any complaints from tenants so far. The fair has been running according to plan," Hari said. (jun)