Tanah Abang victims get Ramadhan blessings
P.C. Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
About 100 vendors displaced by the Tanah Abang textile market fire are counting their blessings at their makeshift stalls set up along the road next to the Kebon Melati basin in Central Jakarta.
The vendors are delighted with their temporary shops as they can earn a good income by selling Muslim clothes there.
"This place brings blessings to us, especially during the Ramadhan fasting month," said Dedah, 44, who used to have a kiosk in Tanah Abang.
She said that she could bring home up to Rp 80 million (US$9,412) a day at the new location.
"Even when business is slack, we can still earn between Rp 30 million and Rp 40 million a day," she said.
The vendors selling Muslim clothes priced between Rp 60,000 and more than Rp 100,000.
Their makeshift shops stretch out along 300 meters of road between the Kebon Melati basin and the Ascott Apartments on Jl. Kebon Kacang in Kebon Melati subdistrict, Central Jakarta.
The strategic location, which is near office buildings along Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin, has proven beneficial to the vendors.
Most customers work in the office buildings. They usually visit the stalls in the morning before going to the office or during their lunch breaks.
"I heard about this market from my colleagues," said Niken, 25, who works in an office building in the area. "I love it here because the prices are much cheaper than those at the Tanah Abang market."
Niken said she was able to buy a silk mukena (female Muslim attire for praying) for just Rp 230,000 at the temporary market.
"If I bought the same mukena at Tanah Abang, I would have had to pay about Rp 350,000."
The vendors usually set up their makeshift stalls about midnight and close for the day at about 4 p.m.
The city administration allows them to set up their stalls every Monday and Thursday.
"We have a permit to open our stalls here and we are being coordinated by Haji Ridwan from Tasik Malaya (West Java)," said Dedah.
Ridwan helps the vendors arrange their permits and pay the special fee to the administration during their stay there.
Dedah also said that all vendors must pay a fee of Rp 30,000 per day. However, she said the amount was negotiable, depending on how much money the vendors earned for a particular day.
Most of the vendors operating at the site are those who failed to secure a spot in the Block D parking lot at the Tanah Abang market.
But the vendors are going to have to move back to the Tanah Abang market after Idul Fitri. They will be relocated to Block F2 in the market. Some of the vendors have already moved back to the market and now occupy kiosks in Block A.
Tanah Abang, which used to be the largest textile market in Southeast Asia, was badly damaged by a fire on Feb. 19. More than 2,500 kiosks in blocks A, C and E were destroyed during the blaze.
The administration and city market operator PD Pasar Jaya plan to rebuild the market and add another parking lot on a plot of land owned by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency. They have said the project will take about two years to complete.