Photo: Julyani Juandy/Twitter
Pasar Santa in South Jakarta has been hailed by many as an outstanding example of the creativity and passion of young Indonesian entrepreneurs. The once largely-abandoned market has now becoming a bustling hub for vinyl record shops, homegrown eateries, sneaker customizers, vape stores and all sorts of off-the-wall businesses that are thriving due to the pasar’s ultra-cheap rent.
But while Santa has managed to make hanging out at a local pasar a trendy activity acceptable to the city’s cool kids, one group that isn’t happy about the hipsterification of the traditional market are the street vendors who once sold outside Santa.
Dozens of vendors from Pasar Santa held a rally at Jakarta City Hall last Friday demanding that the government do something for the businesses increasingly displaced by the pasar’s many new eateries and cafes.
Arimo Manurutng, advocacy coordinator for the Association of Legal Aid and Human Rights (PBHHAM), said dozens of traders have been evicted from their usual spots and were not given new locations, despite many of them having done business in Santa for decades.
“Yes these sellers were given only 48 hours [to vacate]. After the eviction, they were not given any decent venues to relocate their business,” Arimo said, as quoted by Republika.
Republika quoted one of the kaki limas, Imah, as saying they were kicked out of their usual locations due to the increased traffic caused by all the people flocking to check out Santa’s new offerings. Imah said more than 200 vendors had been displaced.
The ayam pecel seller and his fellow vendors said that the government was more concerned with the upper middle-class people visiting and setting up stores in the market than the people who had been selling out of the pasar for much longer. All of the kaki limas at the demo said they had not yet been able to find new locations for their businesses.
