Council called on to reconsider some traffic rules<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The City Police yesterday asked the City Council
\nto reconsider the applicability of some traffic regulations,
\nwhich have now gone into effect but are hard to carry out.<\/p>\n
\"We, for example, have not yet found a proper method on how to
\ndetect how long non-Jakarta cars have been traveling in the
\ncity,\" Col. Soeroso, the head of Traffic Directorate of the City
\nPolice(Kaditlantas) told the City Council's Commission A on law
\nand administrative affairs during a hearing on a progressive car
\ntax system with the commission yesterday.<\/p>\n
Soeroso was answering the question of city councilor Edi
\nSukiswantari Probo on how his directorate would implement a
\nministerial decree which stipulates that any cars from other
\nprovinces found to have been in the city for at least 90 days are
\nsubject to tax.<\/p>\n
Soeroso said it was easy for owners of cars with non-Jakarta
\nlicense plates to get around the rule by going outside the city
\nlimits, such as to Bogor or Tangerang, for some hours and then
\nreturning to Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Another difficult problem faced by police in the
\nimplementation of traffic regulation issued by the city
\nadministration, Soeroso said, was the handling of the so-called
\nthree-in-one kids.<\/p>\n
\"We caught and briefed them not to offer themselves for a lift
\nto motorists to make the number of their passengers three. We
\neven gave them meals in custody. But the next morning, they were
\nthere again, offering their services to passing cars.<\/p>\n
\"We, of course, cannot do that everyday,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Soeroso said there was a driver of a car which was netted for
\ngiving a lift to such a child.<\/p>\n
When asked why he did so, the driver defended that as far as
\nthe three-in-one rule was concerned, taking a child to make the
\nnumber of his car's passengers three by no means violated the
\nrule. \"How can you say I disobeyed the rule? I have two
\npassengers with me,\" Soeroso quoted the driver as saying.<\/p>\n
\"We could do nothing but release the car,\" Soeroso said.<\/p>\n
\"It is we who are supposed to enforce the implementation of a
\nlaw or rule. Hence, we hope law makers do not create rules which
\nare too difficult for us to implement,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The three-in-one rule was introduced about two years ago to
\nreduce traffic congestions along the city's roads. The rule
\ndictates that every car using particular roads during morning
\nrush hours must have at least three passengers.<\/p>\n
Decentralization<\/p>\n
During a visit to East Jakarta with city councilors to monitor
\nthe process of vehicle document issuance, Soeroso said police
\nwill decentralize the Samsat system in the near future in order
\nto make it easier for motorists to procure the documents.<\/p>\n
The Samsat system is an integrated administrative office in
\ncharge of issuing various vehicle documents, such as license
\nplates, in each of the city's five mayoralties.<\/p>\n
The system, which is at present concentrated at the city
\npolice headquarters and in East Jakarta, is overseen by the city
\npolice, the City Revenue Office and the Jasa Raharja state-owned
\ninsurance company.<\/p>\n
With the decentralization, motorists who live in Central, West
\nor South Jakarta, for instance, will not have to go to the city
\npolice headquarters anymore. Currently motorists who live in
\nNorth Jakarta have to go to Samsat office on Jl. Panjaitan, East
\nJakarta, for renewing their license plates.<\/p>\n
Lt. Col. Soekarno Yatno GA, head of Traffic Directorate at the
\nCity Police in charge of the collection of taxes on the ownership
\nof motor-vehicles and the transfer of such ownership, said that
\nlast year the city administration received Rp 533 billion in
\nvehicle taxes.<\/p>\n
Soekarno said at present there are 2.35 million vehicles
\nregistered at the city police headquarters but only 1.25 million
\nof them paid their taxes regularly. (arf)<\/p>",
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