'Bemo' owners, drivers protest

JAKARTA (JP): Thirty-two bemo owners and drivers asked the Jakarta Legal Aid Office yesterday for help in demanding higher compensation for their vehicles which are being phased out by the municipal administration.

The administration had planned to eliminate the bemo (three-wheeled motorized transit vehicles) by April this year, and to introduce another means of transportation.

The administration has approved compensation payments of Rp 500,000 for each bemo, and asked the owners and drivers to purchase new vehicles to replace them.

Yesterday the drivers and owners said they had heard that the administration had set the down payments for new vehicles at between Rp 4.9 million (US$2,017) and Rp 7.8 million, and monthly installments at between Rp 700,000 and Rp 2.9 million.

The administration has yet to announce the prices of the new transit vehicles.

The bemo drivers and owners object to the financial terms of the deal.

"Actually we have accepted the administration's plan on phasing out bemo. But we demand higher compensation for our vehicles. And, if the information we got is true, the down payments and monthly installments for the new vehicles will be too high for us," Subyakto, a bemo owner, said.

In a statement signed by Dewi Novrianti, the Legal Aid Office welcomed the administration's plan to replace bemo in an effort to reduce traffic jams and air pollution.

However, the bemo's owners should get adequate compensation, the legal aid body told The Jakarta Post. (jun)