Ahok: Tanah Abang Streets Don't Belong to Merchants' Mothers
16 July 2013 10:21 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Deputy Governor of Jakarta Basuki Purnama Tjahja said that merchants selling on the streets of Tanah Abang market must be willing to be relocated to Block G. "If they still trade on the street, the authorities will act," he said in West Jakarta, Monday, July 15.
The government, said Ahok, has no intention to threaten the merchants. "This is a state of law. Everything has its rules," he asserted, saying that if the merchants do not move, it will be a problem for the government.
Ahok said that the merchants should not turn things around by saying that the government is harming them when in fact what they do--selling on the road--is causing traffic jams. "Do they think that the streets of Tanah Abang Market belong to their mothers?" Ahok asked.
For the sake of the city's convenience, the government will ask the merchants to relocate to Block G. This is Ramadan, Ahok said, so their merchandise will sell. "If they cannot sell they could go back to their hometowns," Ahok added, saying that most of these merchants are not Jakarta natives.
MUHAMMAD MUHYIDDIN
