Borobudur Law and Society Journal

Traditional markets support the livelihoods of many Indonesians, but they also put public health at risk when they are not kept clean and orderly. Magelang Regency’s Department of Trade, Cooperatives and SMEs manages seventeen traditional markets, yet the duties it exercises are spread between an organisational regent’s regulation and a regional regulation on market management. This article asks how the Department performs its role in realising cleanliness and order in these markets, which legal instruments define that role and what hinders it. It is empirical legal research with a socio-legal approach that applies role theory, through expectation, norm, performance, evaluation and sanction, to data from observation, interviews and Department documents. Only Tempuran Market meets the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) for people’s markets; in the other markets waste accumulates, visitor parking is absent, and cleaning and security staff are too few. Traders’ duty of cleanliness lies in Regional Regulation No 23 of 2008, but its sanction ladder is attached to other provisions, so enforcement lacks a clear textual basis. The Department therefore performs its role without yet achieving the expected result. Limited staff and funds, delayed revitalisation and low awareness among traders and visitors hinder it. The article recommends staffing ratios, a defined sanction procedure and an SNI-based revitalisation schedule.