Jakarta – The commercial center and wholesale market in Kramat Jati in East Jakarta returns to normal on Wednesday afternoon after the two warring ethnic groups involved in a brawl that had lasted from Sunday night until Monday, decided to bury the hatchet and end the conflicts, reports said.
East Jakarta Police's Operation and Control chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Napoleon Bonaparte said that both the Madurese and Banten people have agreed to resort to peaceful ways and work out their differences in a discussion on Wednesday morning.
"On Wednesday the market could fully be opened again ... and we hope that none of this dispute will ever occur again in the future," he said. Shops were opened and public transportation started to operate again in the area on Wednesday. In the past two days, shops were closed and part of the street was blocked off by security officers to prevent further violence.
Earlier on Monday morning, a brawl broke out between groups of Madurese and Banten people, following a dispute on Sunday night. The two warring groups brandished sharp weapons, stones and wooden sticks during the tense incident on Monday, but no casualties were reported. Soon after, vendors in the area immediately closed their shops and moved their merchandise to safety.
A company of police officers and local officials, however, are still guarding the Kramat Jati area, which is located near a military and police housing complex.
Vendors, however, said that groups of thugs extorting money from them have deteriorated the market condition. "The market was too crowded, sidewalk vendors begin to move to the street, creating heavy traffic jams. Since some of the traders paid illegal levies to the thugs, they don't feel guilty to pack the street and they are no longer want to stay in the market area," a trader said, adding that he had to pay at least Rp 8,500 each day for the illegal levies.
The Kramat Jati area was left untouched in the bloody mid-May 1998 rioting and looting in Jakarta, that have claimed the live of at least 1,000 people.