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)