One of the greatest achievements of the previous Jakarta administration was their success in keeping the sidewalks and streets of Tanah Abang free from street vendors selling anything from clothes to food (a task which was much more tedious and difficult than it sounds), which had turned the shopping district into a macet nightmare.
But like a long and endless struggle against a parasitic infection, the street vendors — many of whom prefer to sell on the street rather than having to rent a commercial space inside Tanah Abang’s shopping centers — have been coming back over the past few months, only to be knocked back by the Satpol PP (civil police), and for the cycle to continually repeat itself. Over the past week, however, it seems the vendors’ persistence have temporarily won them the battle as these photos from Detik show:
PKL Tanah Abang Kembali Kuasai Trotoarhttps://t.co/1LcacfR0IGup date foto situasi tanah abang, pls RT biar lulung buat foto hoax lagi pic.twitter.com/THMWDOCam2
— kiv z#FNI (@triwul82) October 28, 2017
Officials from Indonesia’s Ombudsman office recently carried out an investigation into the problem, and they believe that there’s a systemic chain of corruption involving the Satpol PP and local preman (thugs) resulting in the vendors being able to sell their goods on the streets of Tanah Abang.
“One preman at the location admitted that he is close to a Satpol PP official so that the vendors (under his protection) would not be targeted in raids,” said Ombudsman official Adrianus Meliala, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
“This is the interesting part. It used to be that the vendors gave (bribe) money directly to the Satpol PP. Now, they do so via a middleman.”
While details of the investigation was not disclosed, the Ombudsman revealed that they have evidence of bribery in Tanah Abang obtained through undercover investigations.
“In all the places that we found (bribery) we sent our assistants and equipped them with video (gear). We recorded conversations with Satpol PP officers, names were mentioned and that they received IDR500,000 (US$37) to IDR8 million (US$592) per month,” Adrianus said.
Satpol PP Jakarta Deputy Chief Hidayatullah said he has doubts about Ombudsman’s investigation and called on the public advocacy body to share their evidence.
Jakarta’s new administration, headed by Anies Baswedan and his deputy Sandiaga Uno, is looking to implement as-of-yet unspecified short-term solutions to the Tanah Abang problem while they come up with permanent solutions to keep the district’s sidewalks and streets free of vendors. One idea that the Satpol PP came up with is to close some roads in Tanah Abang from vehicles to accommodate street vendors during certain hours of the day.
