Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – By now most Jakartans have either seen or heard about the special report on TransTV on meatballs made from rats. The report aired on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, and many people have stopped eating meatball soup, or bakso, as a result.

Plummeting sales of the popular snack prompted hundreds of bakso traders to protest TransTV on Wednesday and Thursday. Some 500 members of the Greater Jakarta Bakso Traders Association were joined by 300 members of the Tangerang Bakso Traders Union on Thursday, in a rally in front of TransTV's office in South Jakarta.

They demanded the television station stop airing its investigative report and make reparations for the losses caused by the program.

"We demand the TV station stop airing the program, which has hurt bakso traders in Tangerang," Sumardi, a representative of the Tangerang bakso traders, said. He added that since the report first aired, bakso sales had dropped by 90 percent.

"Some bakso traders have even closed their businesses. We are only small traders, and the repeated airing of the report on bakso made with rat meat will kill our business," he said.

A senior producer at TransTV confirmed the traders met with station president Ishadi SK.

"We have admitted the program was a mistake and apologized," the producer, who requested that his identity be withheld, told The Jakarta Post.

TransTV reportedly promised to stop airing the program, and will run a special report on bakso traders using proper meat.

The traders gave TransTV two weeks to air the new report, and threatened more protests if the deadline was not met.