Village chief lead 55 protesting traders

BEKASI, West Java (JP): Kali Baru village chief Antartika S.W. led a delegation of 55 traders who went to the Bekasi mayoralty yesterday to protest the planned demolition of their kiosks.

The delegation, representing 160 traders operating kiosks under an overpass in Kali Baru, West Bekasi, demanded that the mayor suspend the demolition plan.

"The mayoralty has ordered the traders to vacate and dismantle the kiosks because the site will be used for a town park," the mayoralty public relations chief, Padlin Kamal, said yesterday.

Padlin said the mayoralty had issued three warning letters to the village community organization (LKMD) on Sept.3, Sept. 20 and Oct.14. The organization regulates the kiosks and receives a fee from kiosk owners.

"The mayoralty, in its last warning letter, gave the traders 24 hours to vacate the sites because it had already issued three warning letters to the organization regarding demolition," Padlin said.

A trader said yesterday that each kiosk owner pays Rp 1,000 (43 US cents) a day to the organization, meaning that the organization enjoyed Rp 4.8 million a month from the 160 traders.

The organization's chairman Abdul Hadi and secretary Zainal Arifin joined the protest.

Four traders from the delegation, Mamiek Slamet, Yon Marlen Napitupulu, Ramli Siregar and S. Siantar, met the mayor yesterday.

Padlin quoted the four traders as saying that they had not received any warning letters on the kiosks' demolition from the organization.

Padlin said the organization could legally organize the kiosks and collect fees because it had been appointed by the community.

"The local administration is not in charge of taking fees from traders running businesses more than 500 meters away from existing shopping centers," Padlin said. (kod)