Tanah Abang clothing traders make windfall profits

Tanah Abang clothing traders make windfall profits

JAKARTA (JP): The election campaign is giving fabric traders
at the Tanah Abang wholesale market in Central Jakarta windfall
profits from selling rally apparel and accessories.

So overwhelmed are some traders that they claim they have had
to turn down large orders placed on short notice by Golkar, the
dominant political grouping.

"There are plenty of orders which we can't fulfill due to a
lack of stock," said Wir Artawijaya, who owns a shop on the
market's third floor, yesterday.

Orders for campaign articles started to climb two weeks ago
along with an average 30 percent increase in price, he said.

T-shirts currently cost between Rp 2,100 (88 U.S. cents) and
Rp 5,500 each, jackets Rp 12,500, caps Rp 1,500, berets Rp 2,500,
scarfs between Rp 3,000 and Rp 4,000, headbands Rp 1,000 and pins
Rp 500.

Wir said the sales of campaign paraphernalia this year would
probably far exceed the sales of the last general election in
1992, thanks mostly to the increase in orders for Golkar's yellow
apparel.

He estimated that the orders for Golkar paraphernalia
increased by 100 percent from the last general election, while
orders for green articles of the United Development Party (PPP)
remained the same, and orders for the Indonesian Democratic
Party's red articles sharply decreased.

"Golkar paraphernalia is bought by government offices and
private companies," he said.

About 200 wholesalers sell campaign articles in the country's
largest textile wholesale market.

Wir estimated that each wholesaler could earn hundreds of
millions of rupiah in profit during the campaign and general
election. Traders make a Rp 500 profit from the sale of one T-
shirt.

"You'd better leave journalism now and start selling campaign
paraphernalia," he told The Jakarta Post, smiling.

Iman, who owns Famili jacket shop on the third floor, said he
made a profit of between Rp 200 million and Rp 500 million from
the sale of 500,000 Golkar jackets over the past two weeks.

"I almost got another Rp 71 million in net profit yesterday
from a person who wanted 20,000 dozen Golkar jackets," Iman said.

"Unfortunately, the transaction did not take place because he
wanted the order to be ready in one day, while I asked him to
wait four days."

Aside from the Tanah Abang market, campaign articles are sold
in Cipulir, Senen and Manggadua markets.

Wir said campaign T-shirts were produced by cottage industries
in Jembatan Besi, Jembatan Lima, Pluit, all in West Jakarta,
while the printing of party logos on the T-shirts was done by
cottage industries in Pademangan, North Jakarta.

Jackets were mostly produced in Bandung and Tasikmalaya, West
Java, he said.

Unlike Tanah Abang traders, traders at the Senen market feel
rather gloomy.

Iwan, a shop owner at the Senen market, said he started
receiving orders only a week before the campaign period this
year, while in 1992 he had received orders a month earlier.

Iwan said the Senen market had seen a rise in the prices of
campaign articles over the past two weeks and the main orders
were for Golkar articles.

While wholesalers mostly capitalized on the sale of Golkar
articles, sidewalk retailers mostly sold PDI and PPP articles.

A sidewalk trader on Jl. Kramat, Central Jakarta, Toyo, said
his buyers were mostly PPP and PDI supporters. "It's probably
because Golkar gives its paraphernalia to its supporters for
nothing," he added.

Toyo also used to print logos on his merchandise. A police
officer seized his printing equipment last week because he tried
to print a picture of ousted PDI leader Megawati on a T-shirt.

"The officer told me not to do that again. I just did it for a
living. What's wrong with that?" he asked. (jun/jsk)