Market Traders In Jakarta Complain Of Coercion Of COVID-19 Tests

Illustration (Angga Nugraha / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Market Traders Association (DPP IKAPPI) received complaints from a number of traders regarding the implementation of the COVID-19 test, both rapid tests and swab tests, a number of traditional markets in Jakarta.

Head of Information and Communication Division of the DPP IKAPPI Reynaldi Sarijowan said that the complaint was related to the test conducted by the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government, which seemed to force traders who were selling.

"We received reports of several cases of reports that we received, including forced pick-up of traders to carry out rapid tests and swabs. We did not expect this step and need to be evaluated," Reynaldi told reporters, Wednesday, July 8.

In fact, said Reynaldi, traders are supporting the test program aggressively in the market. This is because traditional markets are declared to be locations prone to COVID-19 transmission. To date, there have been 217 market traders in DKI Jakarta who have been infected with COVID-19 from 37 traditional markets in DKI.

However, traders think that the implementation of the COVID-19 test should not be carried out by force, because traders are still serving visitors who buy their wares. This, said Reynaldi, shows an indication of weak communication between market managers and the DKI Provincial Government.

"In fact, traders themselves are willing to carry out rapid tests and swabs without any coercion but the implementation is during the hours when the traders are free and the notification is not sudden. If the traders are busy, buyers are quite difficult to force rapid tests and swabs," he said.

Furthermore, Reynaldi also hopes that the Jakarta Provincial Government will carry out a massive campaign, either in the media or directly to campaign that traditional markets are safe from COVID-19 as long as they apply health protocols.

"These efforts and efforts are expected to strengthen health protocols in traditional markets and inspire traders to continue to recover their economy," he added.

Then, Reynaldi asked the involvement of TNI and Polri personnel to be more friendly in monitoring the COVID-19 protocol in the market area. This is because Reynaldi thinks that the existence of law enforcement officers has made traditional markets a feared location.

"We hope that the TNI and Polri are involved without wearing uniforms. They can be in regular uniforms so they can appear less frightening to traders or visitors," he said.