City administration continues 'becak' raids

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The City Administration continued to raid becak (pedicabs) on Friday, ignoring a Central Jakarta Court verdict that the seizures were illegal.

Pedicab drivers on Thursday won a class action against the administration over a series of raids conducted by city officials, Jakarta police and soldiers.

Governor Sutiyoso, who has vowed to rid the city of pedicabs altogether, was found by the court to have committed an unlawful act in allowing the raids to go ahead.

City Police Chief. Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanegara and Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Bibit Waluyo, whose officers had assisted the raids, were also found to have broken the law.

But Sutiyoso said the city would appeal the verdict and ordered the raids to continue.

"The court did not order that the raids be stopped as (the pedicab drivers) demanded," he told reporters after Friday prayers at the City Hall.

The court found officials failed to follow proper procedures such as giving drivers seizure letters when pedicabs were raided, but Sutiyoso said this was not always possible.

"In fact our officials had difficulty following the procedure as the drivers often ran away and left their pedicabs on the street," he said.

The court rejected the drivers' other demands, such as the closure of the City's warehouse in Cakung, North Jakarta - where the seized pedicabs were stored - and the City's rehabilitation center in Kedoya, West Jakarta.

Sutiyoso promised future raids would be conducted in line with procedures.

The City Public Order officers seized 52 pedicabs in Koja, Pademangan and Cilincing, North Jakarta, in a single night.

The lawsuit was filled by dozens of pedicab drivers, street singers and other evicted people in October, last year. The people was represented by eight eviction victims who acted as ghost lawyers during the trials.