Love it or hate it (most Indonesians certainly love it), the durian reigns as the king of fruits in our country. Demand for durian is so high that it’s often sold along the capital’s streets.
But on Sunday, tens of durian street sellers were evicted from Jalan Raya Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. The sellers had previously occupied sidewalks meant for pedestrians.
“We’re routinely patrolling to maintain discipline on sidewalks, because it’s forbidden to sell anything in those areas,” said Iqbal, head of the Pasar Minggu Satpol PP (Civil Service Police) Unit, as quoted by Metro TV yesterday.
“If they (the durian sellers) come back, we’ll discipline them again. We’ve even confiscated some of the sellers’ goods.”
The Satpol PP said they would be conducting daily inspections on Jalan Raya Pasar Minggu every afternoon for the unforeseeable future.
Ilham, an evicted durian seller, said he no longer has a place to sell durian for a living.
“Well, what are we to do? We’ve always sold on sidewalks. Where else but sidewalks? I probably won’t have any money today,” he said.
We say good riddance to the durian street sellers. Their durian are often so old, hard and inedible that the sellers are effectively just occupying valuable space for pedestrians.
