Traditional markets still have their place in Jakarta

Traditional markets still have their place in Jakarta

It's Jakarta's 471st anniversary tomorrow. What is there to
celebrate, with all the ruin and pain around us? As city dwellers
try to put food on the family table, many have felt the
frustration of food scarcity. The anniversary may be a time to
appreciate some of the main players in the capital's economy. In
this issue, The Jakarta Post's reporters Benget Simbolon Tnb,
Budiman Moerdijat, Devi S. Asmarani, Ida Indawati Khouw, P.J.
Leo, Reiner Simanjuntak and Sugianto Tandra look into the often
taken-for-granted traditional markets and distribution problems.

JAKARTA (JP): They are far less convenient than supermarkets.
They are likely to be dirty, muddy and jam packed, and they often
reek of dead fish.

Yet despite these shortcomings, the city's traditional markets
have proven to be fairly reliable sources for getting essential
supplies.

Customers ranging from housewives to maids sent by their
employers regularly visit the markets to stock up on their daily
or weekly needs.

During the 1980s boom economy period until now, when experts
say we still haven't seen the end of the economic plunge, the
existence of traditional markets seemed to have been much ignored
by many, including the Jakarta administration.

As leading consumer advocate Erna Witoelar put it: "The
government has been more inclined toward modern and well-
capitalized supermarkets."

In times of crisis, traditional markets play a particularly
vital role.

"The traditional market provides a large employment potential,
especially as unemployment this year may reach 20 million, from
the farm-producing level to the many small middlemen and small
traders and shopkeepers in the traditional-market chain," said
Erna.

It usually takes riots -- the ones that rocked the city on May
13 and May 14 particularly -- for many to realize the
significance of those dirty markets, many of which stayed open
when the air-conditioned stores closed.

Tug-of-war

City resident Lilia Irawati recalled a funny scene when she
and her mother shopped in the Pondok Gede market near their
residence at the Jati Waringin housing complex, East Jakarta,
three days after the riots.

"As each new chicken arrived, we were involved in a tug-of-war
for it with other buyers," recounted Lilia, 27, a finance
employee at an environmental non-governmental organization.

Pondok Gede market was untouched during the riots, although
the nearby Hero, part of a major supermarket chain, was looted
and burned down, she said.

Retail outlets, many of which were run by ethnic Chinese, were
largely targeted by angry mobs during the riots, causing a
shortage in food supplies.

Lilia's account showed that although the market was open,
there was a shortage of food supplies; distributors delivered
less supplies for fears of more riots.

"Things were just very expensive then ... and some essentials
were just hard to find," Lilia said. "But they (traditional
markets) were open."

The damages had, one way or another, jacked up prices of goods
during those riot-torn days, and one of the triggers of the price
hikes was that the distribution system was severed by the riots.

The distribution system was regarded as OK by the government,
until recently, when it realized that the lengthy and complex
system was vulnerable to disturbances and made prices susceptible
to sudden increases.

Countering complaints often directed at distributors that they
stockpile goods and drive prices up, chairman of the Indonesian
Supplier and Distributors Association, H.A. Paweney retorted: "If
there was a scarcity in supply, don't just blame the producers
and retailers, the consumers also contribute to this."

When people rush for goods, as they often do when a fear of
food scarcity looms, supplies will dry up, sending prices up,
Paweney said.

During last month's unrest, seven out of 152 markets in the
city were destroyed.

They were the Palmerah and Cempaka Putih markets, Central
Jakarta; Perniagaan, Glodok and Hayam Wuruk Lindeteves, West
Jakarta; and Cipete and Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta.

Spokesman of the city-owned market management company PD Pasar
Jaya, Lihardin Sipayung, said more than 3,300 vendors from 13
markets were affected by the riots.

"It's just difficult to estimate the financial losses traders
suffered in the riots because not all of them will tell us,"
Sipayung said.

He added that the company lost Rp 56 billion (US$4 million) to
the destroyed markets and the distribution system breakdown.

Now, a variety of essentials are easily found in traditional
markets but they are highly priced.

However, some people simply resorted to ones that were more
convenient to their residence when the riots hit.

Then there are always the small vegetable venders who fulfill
the need for essentials, offering convenience to many households
in the city's housing complexes.

They are at the end of the producer-to-consumer line. As the
crisis continues indefinitely, these men and women must brace
themselves each morning when they begin their daily rounds,
getting scolded for how high prices have become. (team)