Vendors' time limited at Monas
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
More than 1,300 street vendors at the National Monument (Monas) Park, most of whom operate on Saturdays and Sundays, will be evicted as soon as the Central Jakarta park is fenced off, an official said on Tuesday.
"We can only provide space for some 600 street vendors. We cannot accommodate all the (1,300) vendors," Central Jakarta Deputy Mayor Sabungan Parlindungan said at a hearing with the City Council.
The hearing was also attended by councillors from the council's Commission B for economic affairs and Commission D for development affairs as well as dozens of street vendors.
Sabungan said 600 vendors who operate daily at Monas would be given space on an open plot near the park's southern parking lot.
He did not explain whether the mayoralty would impose taxes on the vendors, most of whom sell food and beverages.
It is common knowledge that the vendors usually pay fees to mayoralty officials in order to be allowed to operate in the park.
During the meeting, the vendors, who were accompanied by activist Edi Saidi from the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), demanded to be allowed to continue operating in Monas.
"We asked the mayoralty to allow all the traders to operate along the sidewalks or near the pond in the western part of the park," Edi told reporters.
Councillor Dani Anwar urged the mayoralty to designate a location in the park for the vendors so that they could be managed properly.
"Before the mayoralty can give them new jobs, the vendors should be accommodated," Dani of the Justice Party said.
The installment of a Rp 9 billion, three-meter-high fence around the park is aimed at preventing vendors from operating in Monas.
Currently, the vendors sell their wares, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, in almost all parts of the park, the northern and southern parts of which face the presidential palace and City Hall respectively.
Many feel that the aim of the fence around the park is to deter protesters. Since the downfall of president Soeharto, the park has become a popular site to stage demonstrations.
The city administration has been criticized for reducing public space with the installment of fence.
The planned eviction of street vendors in Monas adds to a long list of victims of Sutiyoso's hard policy against poor people in the city.
Last week, thousands of street vendors were evicted from Pulogadung and Kampung Rambutan bus terminals in East Jakarta.
Sutiyoso, who was reelected for a second term earlier this month, announced that the city planned to expel illegal migrants in an effort to curb crowding in the capital.