Over the last 10 years, Bengkong Seken, the second-hand goods market in Batam, has been ‘razed to the ground’ three times, when hundreds of the stalls were burnt down. Strangely, the government in Batam has not blinked an eye at the incidents. They have not learnt the lesson from these fires. Within several days of the fire, unauthorized stalls have sprung from by the same owners without any warning from the state apparatus.

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