Jakarta – Forty-five-year-old Melawai market trader Suradi finds it difficult to imagine what the future holds for his business with the construction of a trade center going up all around him.
"I have been evicted twice before. Once from my stamp stall in Kramat (Central Jakarta) and three years later from my food stall in Slipi (West Jakarta)," Suradi said.
Well, three's a charm, they say. And that kind of positivism was reflected in his words, "I can think of something else if I am once again evicted from this place."
Suradi and some 300 traders who used to occupy two market blocks in Melawai, which were gutted by fire in late August 2005, are facing a different kind of eviction this time.
Not one with public order officers chasing them away, or where military officers overturn their stalls. With the harmless-sounding name of "market rejuvenation", this one is more subtle.
Surrounded by the makeshift stalls of traders from the old market, the site of the burned down market is now on its way to becoming trade center Blok M Square, jointly developed by city market operator PD Pasar Jaya and the Agung Podomoro group.
Earlier last week, the older generation of vendors objected to the price and location offered in the new business premise and filed a lawsuit against PD Pasar Jaya.
"Can you imagine? Old vendors are offered kiosks in the basement for a price of up to Rp 32 million per square meter. If we want a place on the ground floor, we have to pay Rp 60 million per square meter," Melawai traders association head Sujiyanto said.
Although for the public such pricing might make sense considering the project's prime location, the price is out of the question for vendors who still have to bear the burden of losing their goods to the fire.
"I still owe Bank Danamon Rp 55 million. I had spent it on store supplies but they were all lost during the fire," garment trader Armen said.
Armen and a number of other Melawai traders are now relying on selling their goods at community bazaars in housing complexes to make ends meet. They have all voiced objections to paying the required amount in order to secure a kiosk at the new Blok M Square.
Project developer Melawai Jaya Realty general manager Mulia Budiman said the price was reasonable and that 40 percent of the 158,000 square meter floor area had been sold to new traders. Aside from that, hypermarket Carrefour has booked half of the second and third floors, he said.
This is the kind of subtler eviction that those of the informal sector are facing. "Some of us are selling daily groceries. How can we compete with Carrefour?" Sujiyanto said.
The Melawai traders are now joining hands to fight for their rights with the traders associations of Tanah Abang, Mayestik and Pondok Gede, who face similar issues.
Revisiting the Block A market of Tanah Abang gives one a glimpse into the future of Melawai's old traders.
According to Tanah Abang market traders association head Moh. Zahar, most of the kiosks strategically located on the first three floors of the market block are occupied by new traders instead of relocated ones.
Old traders were allocated kiosks – priced at Rp 20 million per square meter – on the eighth floor or above, while the more strategically located kiosks were sold at Rp 200 million per square meter. Currently, only the first four floors of the 14-story air-conditioned modern market are frequented by customers.
Jakarta's spatial plan, which is currently under review, makes reference to taking small-scale businesspeople into account in the development of prospective economic zones like Tanah Abang. But reality does not look as good as it does on paper as the existing traders are subtly, yet unmistakably, elbowed out of the way.