Tanah Abang traders protest relocation

JAKARTA: About 30 traders from the Tanah Abang textile market in Central Jakarta staged a rally outside the Jakarta City Council on Friday, protesting plans to relocate them to a less strategic place.

The traders formerly ran stalls in the market's Blok A building, which was destroyed in a suspicious fire in February.

Head of the coordinating board of Tanah Abang traders unions, Ismeth Roza, said the city market operator PD Pasar Jaya planned to place them in the upper floors of the renovated building.

PD Pasar Jaya will build a luxury 18-story shopping mall in the current location of Blok A building. The long-time tenants would receive discounted tenancy rates but they would be placed on the fourth floor and up.

"We are the victims, so we are more eligible to have better places," Ismeth said. -- JP