Authorities stick to their guns over traffic stickers

Authorities stick to their guns over traffic stickers

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration is determined to
implement the sticker system to replace the three-in-one traffic
regulation as scheduled and is ready to face any possible legal
action resulting from it, an official said yesterday.

Deputy governor of administrative affairs Abdul Kahfi said the
decision to apply the sticker system was legal and the system was
aimed at improving people's prosperity.

"In what way would it inflict losses upon people? How can they
sue us on a system which is aimed at improving people's
prosperity?" he asked.

The city administration is planning to hold a trial run of the
sticker system, which has been endorsed by President Soeharto
through the Presidential Decree No. 50/1998 on restricted
transportation areas in the city, from August to November.

The new regulations will apply from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and
from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. throughout the period, on Jl. Jend.
Sudirman, Jl. M.H. Thamrin, Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat and part of
Jl. Jend. Gatot Subroto.

Motorists will have to display valid stickers on their
windshields if they wish to enter the restricted zone. Stickers
can be purchased for a single entry, one day unlimited entry or
one month unlimited entry.

The system will replace the three-in-one traffic regulation,
introduced in 1992 to deal with innercity congestion, which
states that vehicles entering the restricted area should carry at
least three passengers.

The three-in-one system is considered to have been largely
ineffective in easing traffic congestion.

Governor Sutiyoso has repeatedly said the levies collected
from sticker sales would be used to improve city transportation,
such as through buying new buses.

Kahfi reiterated: "We are ready to face any legal suits as we
have referred to all regulations and legislation."

Director of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, Apong Herlina,
told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the presidential decree on
the sticker system was procedurally wrong because any policy on
collecting levies should be first discussed with the House of
Representatives.

"There is a rule on the collection of funds from the public.
The decision to implement the system through the decree shows a
one-sidedness," she said.

She said all levy collections should be in the form of a law
approved by the House.

"So, the decree should be scrapped for the sake of the law,"
she said.

Apong said the administration's intention to use the levies to
improve city transportation fleets was a good idea, but "don't
apply any ways to reach the goal".

She said, people had the right to question or object to the
system.

"People can sue the President, who enacted the decree, and the
city administration. It could be through a class action
mechanism," she said.

Meanwhile, the head of City Council Commission D for
development affairs, Ali Wongso Sinaga, said the decree did not
violate any existing regulations, including the 1980 Law No. 13
on roads and the 1992 Law No. 14 on transportation.

"Even though the two laws do not explicitly mention other
roads, besides toll roads, where levies can be collected, that
doesn't mean that collections on roads other than toll roads is
prohibited", he said.

Ali said levy collections in the sticker system was supported
by Article 13 of the 1990 Government Regulation No. 22. It states
that all forms of levy collections on traffic and transportation
which fall under the city administration's authority were
established and legalized in a city bylaw.

The council is now waiting for the administration to deliver
the draft on the bylaw for the sticker system.

He said if there were still too many problems, then the
administration should delay the trial run until everything was
ready. (ind/cst)