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Court ruling returns sidewalks to pedestrians
Sidewalk occupation: Shoppers walk along a sidewalk crowded with street vendors near Tanah Abang Market in Central Jakarta on May 23
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idewalk occupation: Shoppers walk along a sidewalk crowded with street vendors near Tanah Abang Market in Central Jakarta on May 23. The Supreme Court has ruled that the Jakarta administration must ensure sidewalks are clear for pedestrians.(JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
The Supreme Court has annulled a bylaw that allowed vendors to set up on selected roads and sidewalks, sparking hope among urban activists in Jakarta that sidewalks in a number of major business and retail centers will once again be available to pedestrians.
The move drew praise from Pedestrian Coalition head Alfred Sitorus, who also urged the Jakarta administration to start removing street vendors from the capital’s sidewalks.
“The city administration should immediately respond to the ruling to avoid conflicts between pedestrians and street vendors in the capital city, as the latter now has no legal basis to sell their products on sidewalks,” Alfred told The Jakarta Post recently.
Thousands of pedestrians in Jakarta must venture onto busy streets because the sidewalks are occupied by street vendors, he pointed out.
“As much as the city wants to provide space for street vendors, it should be able to do so without putting thousands of pedestrians in peril,” he said.
For years, sidewalks in Jakarta have been conflict zones between pedestrians and street vendors vying for space. Responding to the situation, Governor Anies Baswedan, who took office in 2017, has taken a populist approach by designating certain sidewalks for hawkers.
According to Alfred, the city administration has so far designated sidewalks at about 40 locations in the capital city for businesses managed by the Jakarta Cooperatives, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Agency (KUKMP).
“The policy has caused huge discomfort for pedestrians because many of the designated spots are located in busy areas with high pedestrian traffic, like Blok M, Melawai and Tebet [in South Jakarta],” he said.
Despite the Jakarta administration’s policy to provide space for street vendors, however, many hawkers continue to occupy sidewalks and streets without the proper permit.
On Jl. Jatibaru in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, for example, dozens of street vendors can still be seen crowding the sidewalks even though the city administration has built the Skybridge, a pedestrian overpass, to accommodate hawkers in the area.
The vendors, who mostly sell clothes, shoes and food, occupy the 2-meter-wide sidewalk, leaving only 50-centimeters of space for pedestrians.
Shoe merchant Reino, 30, who sells his products on the sidewalk of Jl. Jatibaru, said he had to set up his stall on the street because he did not get a space on the Skybridge.
He added that he had been caught several times by Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers, but he kept returning to the spot to sell his shoes.
“I hope the city administration won’t kick us off Jakarta’s streets because a lot of people make a living there. It’s halal work, better than being a thief or a robber,” he said.
Another vendor, Sadewa, who sells skullcaps and prayer rugs in the Tanah Abang area of Central Jakarta, said the city administration had relocated him and many other street vendors to the Tanah Abang Market last year. However, he returned to the street because the market did not attract a lot of customers.
“Of course I prefer to sell my products indoors as it is air-conditioned and is pollution-free. However, a few months after the relocation, the city seemed unconcerned about our struggle to find customers,” he said, adding that hundreds of street vendors went bankrupt after they were relocated to Tanah Abang Market.
Responding to the Supreme Court’s ruling, Anies said the policy needed to be examined before the city could take further action.
“People don’t violate [the law] out of greed, they do it to meet basic daily needs. We often slam the poor for breaking the law, but we overlook the big ones,” he said on Thursday.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of two plaintiffs, Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) politicians William Aditya Sarana and Zico Leonard Djagardo, in December.
Announced on Aug. 12, the decision effectively nullifies Article 25 paragraph 1 of the 2007 bylaw on public order, which contradicted the 2009 law on traffic and road transportation.
Anies’ populist approach in managing street vendors has sparked criticism. Last year, in an effort to spruce up the chaotic Jl. Jatibaru, the governor closed the 500-m-long road to all vehicles between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. to facilitate hundreds of vendors who ply their trade on the sidewalks.
He closed the road for about 10 months while waiting for the Tanah Abang Skybridge to be completed.
The policy triggered public outcry, with angkot (public minivan) drivers filing a lawsuit against the city administration to revoke the policy, claiming that they had lost passengers because of it and subsequently suffered a drastic loss in income.
Both the Ombudsman and opposition parties at the Jakarta Council accused Anies of violating a set of regulations in closing the road, while the Jakarta Police complained about nearby streets being more congested after the closure. (nal)
