City parking joke

If there were a competition for the most puzzling institution, the trophy could well go to the Jakarta City Administration for its puzzling flood control policy, the busway and the "three-in- one" traffic rule, but one that stands out most notably as a microcosm of all that is bizarre is its parking policies.

The only clear thing about the administration's policies in these matters is that nothing is clear. The policy on the busway system also makes it clear that everything related to Jakarta's transportation system is complicated.

While Jakartans have yet to hear an official, let alone, acceptable explanation on these policies, the administration has just made things more difficult with the governor's decree on the increase in the off-street parking rate from Rp 1,000 to Rp 1,500 per hour. The decree is supposed to take effect on Jan. 1, 2004.

But this decree has vehicle owners scratching their collective pates as they wonder who goofed up this time. It seems that everyone knows about the new pricing system except the many building owners and parking management companies that have arbitrarily increased their parking fees in direct defiance of the City decree. Some charge Rp 2,000 for the first hour plus another Rp 2,000 for the second hour, Rp. 1,000 for the third hour, and so on.

Signed by Governor Sutiyoso on Dec. 5 and promulgated on Dec. 8, the decree has -- curiously -- not yet been presented to the head of the City Parking Agency. Yani Mulyadi, the head of the parking agency said that directives for the implementation of the decree have not yet been issued because he has not yet received a copy of the decision. And, of course, no civil servant can actually make a decision without directives, apparently even the head of an agency.

He said he was very surprised upon hearing that copies of the new decree had been distributed to the parking management companies and building owners.

Even more bizarre is that building owners are indeed aware that they are not abiding by the gubernatorial decree No. 98/2003.

The head of Glodok Plaza parking, Abdul Jamil, for example, was quoted by a local paper as saying that he acknowledged the administration's request to delay the implementation of the decree (until January 2004), "but we will continue to charge the new (higher) fee."

He said that complainants or those dissatisfied with the services could contact the head office of PT Secure Parking, which manages most of the off-street parking facilities in the Greater Jakarta area. "One thing is certain, and that is, we will not lower the rates," he said.

Given such a situation, the oddest thing may be the City Administration's seeming inability, or unwillingness, to do anything about the arbitrary decisions by parking companies -- not to mention the absence of guarantees or compensation for any loss or damage to the vehicles, while they are parked in "secure" parking lots.

This being the case, Sudaryatmo, of the Indonesian Consumers Protection Foundation (YLKI), can hardly be blamed for assuming that there must be some kind of conspiracy between the administration and the private parking companies.

Many complaints about unauthorized increases in the parking fees have been received by YLKI. Sudaryatmo confirmed these reports, saying that the city officials would also clearly be aware of these illegal practices.

A similar controversy occurred in May this year when building owners at malls, hotels and shopping plazas started to charge drivers Rp 1,250 or Rp 1,500 for one hour parking, instead of the official fee Rp 1,000.

The reasons they gave for raising their fees varied from employee demands for a salary increase to extra taxes.

YLKI protested, saying that burdening vehicle owners with an extra 20 percent (of Rp 1,000) in taxes was unfair and contradicted Provincial Regulation No. 6/2002. The regulation stipulates that the parking taxpayers are the individuals and/or firms which run parking businesses. It would only be fair that consumers be exempted from having to pay for the parking companies taxes.

YLKI also attacked the ruling, which it says denies consumers the right to Protection as stipulated by Consumer Protection Law No. 8/1999. Car owners have no where to turn when they find accessories from their vehicles stolen or damaged due to the fact that the ruling does not guarantee the vehicles' safety. The parking lot management is not even held responsible for the loss of parked vehicles.

Controversies linger on and no agreement has been reached on this issue between consumers and the parking companies/building owners. And the city administration has done nothing to mediate in the "miscommunication" between consumers and PT Secure Parking.

Another intriguing controversy on parking also took place in May this year when the administration appointed a private firm to manage on-street parking using prepaid cards.

So persistent was the administration at that time that five locations -- Jl. Raden Patah in South Jakarta, Jl. Bulevar Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta, Jl. H. Agus Salim in Central Jakarta, Jl. Gadjah Mada, West Jakarta and Jl. Jatinegara Timur in East Jakarta were designated as pilot projects in the plan.

The prepaid card system allowed street parking attendants to use Personal Digital Assistance (PDAs) to record vehicles coming in and going out.

No arguments could melt the administration's persistence regarding that policy, which was later found unworkable. And yet no adequate explanation has ever been given about the failure of the system.

All this clearly reflects the City Administration's preference for leaving the complicated parking-related problems both unexplained and unresolved. These facts also tell us that the administration's policy is clear on only one thing: Keeping things unclear.