Tn. Abang vendors 'must be llegalized'
JAKARTA (JP): The municipality must legalize street vendors operating in the overcrowded Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta to simplify control and supervision of the area, councilors said yesterday.
Afiff Hamka, a member of Commission E for welfare affairs, told The Jakarta Post that Tanah Abang was problematic because the city had never acknowledged the vendors' existence.
"The vendors are treated like they have some kind of disease. It's the wrong approach," he said. "The city should change its thinking and treat the 1,352 vendors as the city's economic assets," Hamka said.
Central Jakarta Mayor Andi Subur Abdullah said, after the weekend's massive cleanup operation, that his mayoralty would no longer tolerate the mushrooming number of street vendors.
He said the vendors' existence was illegal and the city wanted them off the streets.
"The city has never collected any levies from them. If we do, it's the same as admitting that their activities are legal."
However, illegal levies are reportedly collected from the vendors by hoodlums and some city officials.
Hamka urged the city administration to make an accurate list of existing sidewalk traders and issue identification cards.
By doing so, the municipality could control the number of existing traders and reduce the influence of hoodlums, he said.
"If Tanah Abang vendors could be organized like other street traders in Asian capitals, such as Bangkok, the city would have no problems handling the vendors."
In Bangkok, street vendors must obey city rules, such as displaying ID cards, keeping the street free of trash and obeying restricted operating hours.
"Under such regulations, the government can control and relocate the vendors if they overcrowd the sites," Hamka said.
City Councilor Elishman Iljas from the United Development Party faction agreed with Hamka's idea.
The municipality must have clear objectives backed up by strong political will, he said.
"The municipality built Kebon Jati market but it was left vacant because some officials 'let' the traders operate on the streets again so they could collect levies. These kind of practices must be stopped," Iljas said.
"Eventually the new Kebon Jati market, which cost some Rp 1 billion (US$303,030), was abandoned and became a prostitution and gambling spot. What a waste."
Hamka urged the municipality to make proper use of the market.
"The city has to relocate the street vendors to the market and start gathering information to compile a list of vendors before the fasting month of Ramadhan begins (in January)," he said.
According to security officials, keeping the Tanah Abang vendors off the streets is easier said than done.
"The traders play hardball. I doubt that a thin steel fence will keep them off the streets. I'm sure one of these days somebody will tear down the fence," an official said, referring to the portable fence installed by the municipality to stop vendors operating on the streets.
"I get a headache every time I have to discuss the Tanah Abang issue," Lt. Col. Moeldoko, the chief of Central Jakarta military district, said. (07)