Malioboro Street Vendors Complain About Relocation Plans To LBH Yogyakarta

ILLUSTRATION OF DOCK BETWEEN

YOGYAKARTA - A number of street vendors in the Malioboro area chose to complain about their fate to the Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute and hoped to receive advocacy assistance on the relocation plan to be carried out by the local government.

"We do not reject the plan. But we hope that there will be transparency from the government and a time delay," said Supriyanti, a Malioboro street vendor who submitted a complaint to the Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH), quoted by Antara, Tuesday, 11 January.

According to him, until now there has been no clarity from the local government regarding the timing of the relocation. Merchants only know information about the planned time of moving from social media.

"There is no official notification from the local government about the time of relocation. We actually know from social media that before the end of January it has been moved," he said.

PKL, he continued, also still hopes that the local government can delay the relocation time while ensuring the relocation location is suitable for occupancy.

"It seems that the stalls that have been prepared are only temporary stalls. The hope is that they can become more permanent stalls. Therefore, we hope that this plan can be postponed first," he said.

In addition to the readiness of the lapak, the street vendors reasoned that the delay was needed because traders were worried about the decrease in turnover if they had to move to a new location. "Moreover, we are really affected by the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

The same thing was conveyed by Purwandi, who sells t-shirts in Malioboro every day. "By filing a complaint with LBH, we hope that there will be legal assistance and that our request for a postponement will be granted," he said.

The complaints submitted by a number of Malioboro street vendors to LBH are on behalf of individuals, not on behalf of the association. Street vendors in Malioboro are members of a number of associations.

Meanwhile, the Research Division of LBH Yogyakarta Era Harivah said that he would open a Complaint House for Malioboro street vendors as a follow-up to complaints submitted by street vendors.

"We are opening a Complaint House. We are opening the door wide for Malioboro street vendors who will complain about the relocation plan," he said.

Era said that the plan to relocate Malioboro street vendors to two locations, namely the former Indra Cinema and a stall on the land of the former DIY Tourism Office, was not transparent and seemed rushed.

"This policy ignores the principle of community participation. In this case, Malioboro street vendors. And it is very unfortunate because it was carried out during a pandemic," he said.

Meanwhile, the non-transparent element is that the government does not clearly convey the purpose of the relocation. "If the goal is to organize a philosophical axis area, then the UNESCO Convention does not require that cultural heritage areas be free from economic activities," he said.

He also hopes that the government can delay the relocation and open up space for participation for Malioboro street vendors.