'Bajaj' owners, drivers protest against Kancil

'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.