'Bajaj' owners, drivers protest against Kancil
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Some 300 bajaj (three-wheeled motorized vehicles) were parked at the City Council compound on Wednesday in a noisy and smoky protest against the administration's plan to replace them with the Kancil (four-wheeled vehicles).
Owners and drivers of the Indian-designed bajaj objected to the planned replacement, saying the price of the locally made Kancil of Rp 34 million (US$4,000) was too expensive compared with their bajaj priced at Rp 15 million.
Besides the price, the Kancil's daily rental fee of Rp 50,000 was also too high as the bajaj's daily rental fee was only Rp 30,000, they said.
"If I shift to the Kancil, my income will be lower since we have to pay a higher rental fee," Darlan told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the rally.
He said his daily income which currently reached Rp 60,000, would drop if he had to pay a rental fee of Rp 50,000 for the Kancil.
The bajaj drivers and owners also refused an offer by Kancil producer PT Kancil Automotive Marketing Industries to buy their vehicles at Rp 5 million each.
The producer earlier said the Rp 5 million could be used as a down payment to buy a Kancil.
It's still unclear whether the Rp 50,000 daily rental fee for the Kancil was also considered an installment for the golf-cart like vehicle, which would eventually lead to ownership.
Another bajaj owner Solihin, however, added that he was ready to negotiate with the Kancil maker if the offer was interesting.
He said he bought a bajaj for Rp 18 million three years ago, therefore he would not accept the offer of Rp 5 million to trade in his bajaj.
"It would be OK if the compensation was close to Rp 15 million and if the price of the Kancil is not too high," he added.
Meanwhile, chairman of City Council Commission D for development affairs Koeswadi said the planned replacement of bajaj would not be conducted in the near future.
"We are still discussing a bylaw on transportation. We have not decided whether to replace the bajaj," Koeswadi, a councillor of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle told the protesters.
In the draft, the administration only stated public transportation vehicles shall be motorized vehicles with four or more wheels. So the bajaj was excluded in the bylaw.
The planned bylaw was also criticized for excluding non- motorized vehicles, such as pedicabs, as public transportation vehicles.
There are 14,000 bajaj currently operating in the city's streets. The replacement of bajaj with Kancil will take a long time as the Kancil producer has only produced 100 vehicles so far.
Kancil, which has a 400 cc engine, is manufactured by PT Induro International in Tangerang, Banten province.
Governor Sutiyoso earlier pledged that the bajaj would be banished from the streets when he launched the Kancil.
The bajaj was introduced in Jakarta in 1975 when the city was led by Governor Ali Sadikin. The plan to replace the bajaj with the Kancil was announced in 2001 as the two-stroke engine of the bajaj makes a deafening noise and emits heavy exhaust fumes.