Traders question new Glodok bridge space
JAKARTA (JP): Dozens of traders of the former Glodok pedestrian shopping bridge, whose stores were burned and looted in the May 1998 riots, have questioned the help of the Jakarta authorities and central government in providing new retail space.
According to coordinator of the traders Hendra, they had sent a letter to President Abdurrahman Wahid asking him to help settle the problems they faced in restoring their places of business.
"We lost our stores and money during the May (1998) riots and just want to claim what is rightfully ours on the new bridge. But it seems everybody is ignoring us," he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Construction has just begun on the new bridge, at the same location and twice the size of its predecessor.
During the three days of riots that led to the resignation of former president Soeharto, the Glodok area of downtown Kota, home to hundreds of shops selling electronic goods and Chinese- Indonesian residences, was badly hit, burned and looted by mobs.
Connecting the Harco-Glodok building to another, the Glodok pedestrian shopping bridge, at the time the site of approximately 100 stores mostly selling electronics, was destroyed.
According to Hendra, the majority of traders had been renting under 20-year contracts and in business for two years before the tumult.
"Soon after the unrest, city administration officials promised to give priority to allotting space to us once the new bridge was constructed," Hendra said.
But instead of completing the project, developer PT Bina Citra continually asked for money from the former bridge traders, he said.
"Last year, PT Bina Citra asked each trader to pay Rp 40 million (US$4,705) to help fund the construction. Several months later, they asked for another Rp 75 million from each.
Two weeks ago, they told us to pay another Rp 339 million to get our stores back," Hendra explained.
According to the contract, he said, the traders were allowed to run their businesses on the new bridge without having to spend any money since they had 18 more years to stay there.
Hendra said the management had threatened to sell the spaces to new tenants should the ex-traders at the bridge refuse to meet the requirement.
"We have all been asking about it; some of us even had to pay the Rp 40 million they (the developer) asked for last year.
But paying Rp 339 million doesn't make sense at all, as the price is similar to new stores," he said.
"We lost many things during the riots and the administration promised to help us. We are not asking for the city to pay us back but merely to give us our stores back," Hendra remarked.
None of the developer's executives could be reached for comment.
Insurance
In the previous agreement with the same company, the traders paid a Rp 150 million rental fee for an area measuring 20 square meters.
In the deal, PT Bina Citra should have provided insurance for the stores, Hendra said.
"Sometimes we just want to give up and continue our business in the current spot. But shall we give up while we have not broken the agreement?" he added.
Like Hendra, who sells keys at the Harco Glodok building nearby, many of the ex-traders of the bridge also run their business in the same building, which offers rents at Rp 1.1 million per month for a space the same size.
Another trader, Akai, who currently sells radio telecommunication units at Harco Glodok, said the traders had already hired a lawyer to settle the problems by asking PT Bina Citra to lower the rental fee.
"We are willing to pay as much as Rp 75 million to help the renovations, only if we can have our stores back," Akai said.
A councillor from Commission B on economic affairs, Dani Anwar, said he would arrange a meeting at the city council with the disputed parties of the Glodok bridge.
"The traders deserves justice and the management cannot force them to pay that much," Dani said on Tuesday. (dja)