Tanah Abang versus Bali?

Ten days after thousands of kiosks at the Tanah Abang textile market were ravaged by fire, not a single institution has come forward to claim responsibility for the disaster -- just as expected.

Some people have argued that it is the state electricity company, PLN, that should be held responsible for the disaster, because an eyewitness stated that the fire started at an electrical substation on the first floor.

However, the fact that all city-owned markets in the capital are managed by PD Pasar Jaya, plus the fact that most hydrants at Tanah Abang market were out of order when the fire broke out, led others to accuse PD Pasar Jaya of negligence.

But while those two institutions are also pointing fingers at each other, many forget that the traders themselves also contributed, either directly or indirectly, to last week's fire, which resulted in huge financial losses.

It cannot be denied that PLN had been all-too-generous to the traders by so readily providing additional power to their kiosks.

Some traders admitted to having contacted a middleman to make deals with PLN. No wonder electricity cables could be seen running crisscross and tangled here and there over alleys in the market building.

Also, many traders were not very careful in their daily routine. For example, traders smoking in kiosks filled with bales of textiles or other merchandise were a common sight before the fire. Much as PLN is being faulted, it is equally difficult not to point a finger at PD Pasar Jaya over the fire.

On the other hand, who can say that the traders were blameless when so many acquired additional electricity via unlawful means?

The traders should be reminded that they, too, must bear part of the responsibility for the disaster. By violating safety regulations for the sake of profit they only brought suffering on themselves.

The fact that the fire exits and spaces in and around the market building were occupied by vendors, who paid daily fees to PD Pasar Jaya, is another issue that must be explained by the market management.

Unfortunately, no one has spoken up about such irregularities so far, which many people see as being the result of corruption.

Only after the Tanah Abang market fire did people become aware that all of the 151 markets managed by PD Pasar Jaya lack adequate fire protection and prevention systems, and are thus vulnerable to fire.

In many cases, unsafe wiring systems are to blame. The Senen market fire, which occurred just days before the Tanah Abang market was burned down, can be cited as proof.

While the question of who is to blame is waiting for an answer, the city administration is now focusing on what to do with the traders. Governor Sutiyoso eventually allowed them to reopen for business in the market's parking lot instead of in the open space at nearby Kebon Melati, earlier offered as a temporary site by the authorities.

No doubt the traders do need financial help as no insurance company is willing to cover their claims. The traders also need loans as working capital and assurances that they will get new kiosks once the new market has been rebuilt.

Public sympathy has gone the way of the traders, despite their negligence that played a role in triggering the fire.

The most interesting source of sympathy has been the Indonesian Cooperatives Council (Dekopin) and its advocacy team for the Tanah Abang traders.

Before establishing the advocacy team, Dekopin sent an official letter to President Megawati Soekarnoputri, urging that the government rebuild the market soon and provide the traders with loans as working capital. Dekopin also demanded that the government initiate a crash program to reestablish the traders' businesses.

The most interesting statement, however, has come from leader of the advocacy team Sulistyo, who said that the Tanah Abang fires were just as horrendous as the Bali blasts, and therefore the traders deserved equal treatment as the Bali bombing victims.

"We don't want the government to treat the Tanah Abang traders any differently from the Bali bombing victims simply because the international impact of the Bali blasts was greater," Sulistyo said.

No one denies that the Tanah Abang fire damaged the national economy as it may well leave a total 1.3 million people jobless. Everybody is aware that billions of rupiah circulated every day at the Tanah Abang market, reputed to be the largest of its kind in southeast Asia.

However, to compare the Tanah Abang fire with the Bali bombings is both futile and irrelevant. The two tragedies are totally dissimilar, and their chronologies too are totally disparate, although the economic impact might not be that different.

It is obvious that the Bali bombings, which killed more than 180 people, were the act of criminals who have claimed responsibility for them. There was no ignorance behind them.

Without any intention to belittle the Tanah Abang fire, everybody seems to have agreed that ignorance, indifference and probably also corruption lay behind the incident.

Unfortunately, institutions that should be accountable for the tragedy have yet to accept responsibility.

So, let us not make things worse by making unnecessary and inappropriate statements. Overblown rhetoric, which can only mislead people, should be avoided. What the traders need now is assistance to revive and reactivate their businesses as soon as possible.