JAKARTA (THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Numerous vendors have set up shop in the popular Tanah Abang Market in Indonesia's capital Jakarta ahead of Hari Raya Puasa this weekend despite the large-scale social restrictions currently in place to curb the coronavirus.
Vendors were seen assembling their tents and arranging items on pedestrian lanes in the area on Monday (May 18). Nearly all the blocks of the market, which is South-east Asia's largest textile market, remain officially closed.
Instagram user @kelasmojo posted on Monday a series of photos and videos depicting several traders claiming space on pedestrian lanes.
Jakarta Public Order Agency head Arifin, who like many Indonesians go by one name, said the traders began setting up shop on Sunday despite the agency's strict supervision.
"The crowds in Tanah Abang only lasted (for a few hours)," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
He added that the agency's personnel had closely guarded the area, but that "several vendors must have resumed their businesses when the personnel were on a break."
Arifin said that in addition to monitoring the market area, the agency had also closed a number of hotels and lodges around Tanah Abang in recent weeks ahead of the Islamic holiday.
"These businesses are also restricted under the large-scale social restrictions. Let's not just blame the small vendors," he said.
Tanah Abang district head Yassin Pasaribu said on Sunday those who had taken to the pedestrian lanes were all clothing vendors and were not exempt from the social distancing guidelines.
"Several vendors have tried to set up shop over the last few days. But it hasn't been as crowded as it was today," Yassin said.
Yassin was quoted telling Indonesia's Kompas news website that the authorities had tried dispersing the crowds, adding that the makeshift shops were open from 8am to 12pm.
He said the clothing vendors likely could no longer wait for the reopening of the shopping blocks because the days leading up to Hari Raya were normally among the most profitable periods for the businesses.
Tanah Abang Market was the first city-owned market to close because of the Covid-19 outbreak in the capital city.
Almost all shopping blocks in the market remain closed since it was ordered to shut down its activities in March. Operations in the market's Block G have been restricted to grocers.
The famous textile market is home about 10,000 tenants and generates daily sales of up to Rp 100 billion (S$ 9.6 million). It is located in the busy Tanah Abang area, where the surrounding streets are also filled with traders and vendors.
The market is typically at its busiest ahead of the month of Ramadan and Hari Raya, when people arrive from all over the country to purchase goods in bulk to sell in their home regions.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has imposed large scale social distancing restrictions on the capital until May 22 to prevent a surge in Covid-19 cases. It remains unclear whether the administration will extend the restrictions until after Hari Raya.
Jakarta, the epicentre of the outbreak in Indonesia, has confirmed at least 5,900 Covid-19 cases and more than 470 deaths as of Sunday.
Indonesia on Monday said its total confirmed cases rose to 18,010 with 1,191 deaths.
