Vendors protest at City Council

JAKARTA (JP): A group of vendors from Ratna market -- or Cokong market as it is more widely known due to its location on Jl. Haji Cokong, in South Jakarta -- asked the City Council yesterday to intervene in an eviction notice.

The group, claiming to represent 100 vendors, said the market authorities had asked them to leave because the 3,000-square- meter plot will be cleared by a private developer.

The vendors were told to move to Menteng Pulo market in Central Jakarta, along with vendors from Jembatan Merah and Minangkabau markets in South Jakarta.

"We have never been properly informed about compensation and the kiosks in Menteng Pulo which we're supposed to move into," Sailan Marpaung, one of the vendors, said.

"We just want the city to give us fair compensation because we have to move far away from where we usually trade," he said.

Based on the South Jakarta mayoralty's eviction order, today is the final day for them to relocate.

Djafar Badjeber, the head of Commission B for economic affairs, told the vendors to ask for a postponement of the eviction so the case can be settled

"If there is a private developer involved, it means that the plot will be turned into something else. The market and the plot are supposedly owned by the city, so if there is a change in its use the City Council must be notified," he said. (07)