Consumer agency holds poll on planned sticker system

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) is conducting a public poll on the planned traffic sticker system to find out what people really think, its vice chairman said yesterday.

Agus Pambagio said the activity was launched Monday through questionairres and the YLKI's web site and mailing list.

"Each day, we receive about five to 10 objections to the plan through telephone calls, but we need the real figure to enable us to have data when we meet the administration (to discuss the plan).

"We don't want to be accused of 'arranging' facts."

He said the questionnaires were distributed to people whose places of employment were on Jl. Jend. Sudirman and Jl. M.H. Thamrin, where the system would be implemented.

Foundation staff members and volunteers were handing out questionnaires, he said, in an effort to compile results in one to two weeks.

The proposed system, which the President has endorsed in principle to replace the three-in-one traffic system, has been the target of stinging criticism from many quarters since news about the plan was first mentioned in the media earlier this year.

Critics argue the plan contradicts a law which bars the government from charging levies for non-toll roads.

The plan, which will be tried out in August to November, requires vehicles to bear stickers when entering Jl. M.H. Thamrin and Jl. Jend. Sudirman from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays. Stickers will cost Rp 5,000 (about 40 U.S. cents) for a one-day entry and Rp 80,000 for a month.

It will replace the three-in-one traffic regulation introduced in 1992 to deal with chronic traffic congestion.

The latter, which requires private cars to carry at least three people when passing the restricted zones, is considered to have been largely ineffective in easing traffic congestion.

After being flailed by weeks of criticism over the plan, Sutiyoso suggested last Wednesday that people should establish a type of independent body to control the implementation of the system.

The City Council speaker, Edy Waluyo, announced last Friday that the council would invite critics of the controversial traffic sticker system for input before it seals the plan with a bylaw.

Agus also urged the administration to hold a social impact analysis of the plan to determine unanticipated ramifications.

"The administration should study more on the system's legal basis and the possibility of sticker forgeries, or whether there would be traffic congestion due to the existence of 40 sticker sales counters along the two streets.

"We can learn from the past that a repercussion of the three- in-one system -- the operation of 'jockeys' who offer to take a ride for a fee -- was not predicted," he said.

Meanwhile, the United Development Party faction of the City Council urged the city administration to postpone the plan.

Head of the faction Achmad Suaidy said Monday that the system was unsuitable for implementation during the economic crisis.

Suaidy also protested the administration's announcement that the council had agreed with the system.

"The administration has not officially submitted its proposal to the council, so how can they say that the council had agreed with it?" (ind)