City administration told to crack down on illegal fees

Bambang Nurbianto The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Factions in the City Council expressed concern on Tuesday over illegal fees collected by city administration officials and thugs and urged authorities to crack down on such practices.

Spokeswoman of the Democratic Party Faction Ernawati Sugondo questioned on Tuesday the administration's commitment to ending illegal fee collection.

"There are clear rulings on how to collect regional fees. But many officials often misuse their positions to collect illegal fees from the public," Ernawati said when presenting her faction's comments on the draft bylaw on regional fees.

The draft bylaw was submitted by the administration early this month and the council is expected to approve it next month.

The draft is the revision of a similar bylaw issued in 1999.

While Ernawati did not elaborate on her statement, it is common knowledge that illegal fees continue to be imposed for public services.

As an example, the administration officially does not collect fees from those applying for identity cards, but in practice, officials often demand extra money. Informal businesses are also targeted by both officials and thugs hoping to earn additional income.

Ernawati expressed concern over the role of officials in the occupation of public areas like pavements and roads by the informal sector that had caused serious problems, including traffic congestion.

Regional fees are expected to contribute Rp 326.56 billion (US$36.28 million) to the Rp 14 trillion city budget for 2005.

Meanwhile, spokesman for the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Tubagus Arif said to prevent corruption in fee collection, the new bylaw must stipulate punishments for officials, not just people who refuse to pay fees.

He criticized the performance of the city's parking management body (BP Parkir) that missed last year's target because it only collected Rp 14.1 billion, lower than its spending, which reached some Rp 17 billion.

The PKS also rejected the plan to increase on-street parking fees by 200 percent as proposed by the body, until the administration managed to curb irregularities in on-street parking collection.

Meanwhile, spokesman for the Golkar Party faction Abraham M. Larobu expressed concern over widespread illegal fee collection in cemeteries. Therefore, his faction proposed a special article that would lift burial fees.

The Golkar faction opposed the administration's plan to collect fees from the exploitation of coral reefs, sand and groundwater.

He said the exploitation of the three resources would cause serious environmental damage.

Abraham said the exploitation of coral reefs, for example, would threaten the existence of certain marine species.