S

treet vendors say they will abide by the laws set by the city administration but they should be given space to earn their living and take part in developing the city.

The city administration and Jakarta'€™s street vendors have long had a strained relationship due to their conflicting interests.

The city has been trying to manage and organize street vendors '€” who contribute substantially to the city'€™s trash and traffic congestion '€” but has often faced opposition.

Association of Indonesian Street Vendors (APKLI) communications deputy head Suryokoco Suryoputro said the vendors would not fight City Hall if they were given places to trade and were guaranteed that they would not be evicted.

'€œThe vendors just need a street or a building close to their customers. If the city administration can give them that, they will gladly comply with bylaws and regulations to maintain public order,'€ Suryo told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a panel discussion held by Tarumanagara University at its campus in Grogol, West Jakarta.

Moreover, he said, street vendors '€” or at least their representatives'€“ should be involved in drafting policies related to the informal sector and public order.

Suryo criticized the city administration for never having involved the APKLI in policymaking on street vendors and public order. According to him, the administration should invite the APKLI to discuss its recent measures taken to manage street vendors, where the Jakarta administration will register all vendors, assign them to designated areas and give them banking access.

In the system, each vendor will be given a dual-purpose ATM debit card '€” issued by city-owned lender Bank DKI '€” that will also function as a street vendor identification card, containing the vendor'€™s name, their products and their assigned location.

The vendors must pay a small fee as tax each day, which will be automatically charged to the cards.

'€œAs residents, the vendors should at least be involved in discussing such measures because it is a matter of their livelihoods. The administration must at least listen to what they need. If the two parties could meet half way, it would be great. It would be a win-win solution,'€ Suryo said.

Rujak Center for Urban Studies urban planner Dian Tri Irawaty concurred and said that the street vendors had to be acknowledged and considered when making policy.

'€œThe city administration must facilitate their rights to do business. If the city administration provided a decent place close to their customers, I'€™m sure the vendors would gladly move from the streets,'€ Dian told the Post in the discussion.

Dian added that the city administration'€™s new system to manage street vendors would not provide a solution to all problems because the system was only aimed at those with a Jakarta ID card.

Dian also criticized the city administration'€™s tough policies against street vendors.

Recently, the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) launched a series of raids in several areas of the city, including the Old Town in West Jakarta, Monas in Central Jakarta and the Jatinegara overpass in East Jakarta, to demolish illegal shanties and kiosks in public spaces while their owners were still in their hometowns celebrating the week-long Idul Fitri holiday.

Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said the city needed the informal sector but residents earning their living in the sector should be managed to prevent them from occupying public space, squatting on river banks and disturbing the traffic, especially around traditional markets and shopping malls.

He said street vendors having Jakarta ID cards would be relocated to designated spaces and placed in low-cost apartments while those having no ID cards would be sent back to their hometowns.

Ahok, who will soon be sworn in as new governor to replace president-elect Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, stressed that the capital city was open to migrants from other provinces but they were required to have skills to earn their living and to abide by the law.