Cops, officials, thugs worst highway robbers: Truckers

Cops, officials, thugs worst highway robbers: Truckers

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Oyos Saroso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Lampung

Pardede, a truck driver, had just eaten a meal at a busy roadside
Begadang Restaurant, Bandarlampung. But while his stomach was
full, his wallet was not.

Gazing out at the traffic, it did not take much time for
Pardede to share his concerns with The Jakarta Post.

His main problem was the extortion along Sumatra highways --
the illegal levies he had to pay to police and officials at the
many weighing stations.

Pardede said most of the stations were not about protecting
standards or safety but about collecting illegal levies. Most
inspections were generally lackadaisical, he said.

"Even though the load we carry does not exceed the required
tonnage, we still have to pay levies," Pardede, who usually
transports fruit from Medan to the Kramat Jati wholesale market
in Jakarta, said.

Pardede said extortion was widespread on highways in South
Sumatra, Lampung, and when entering Jakarta.

Drivers, he said, usually set aside about Rp 400,000
(US$44.00) to Rp 500,000 for uang rokok, or "cigarette money",
for a one-way journey, because there were up to 30 of such posts
on a normal route, be they official weighing stations or illegal
ones, along the highway.

"Our employers always provide money, about Rp 300,000 for a
one-way trip, but the amount is never enough," he said.

Djauluhan Sidabutar, a driver for a cargo company in Pluit,
North Jakarta, agreed.

He said almost all police offices, highway checkpoints,
military posts and special forestry police units on the East and
Central Sumatra highways imposed between Rp 20,000 and Rp 100,000
each in illegal levies on trucks transporting commodities from
Sumatra to Java.

Sidabutar said most drivers had no other choice but to pay the
illegal fees to ensure they arrived at their destinations on
time.

"Despite no traffic violations and complete paperwork, all
officers find new excuses for extorting drivers and we generally
give up because we cannot argue. If we are involved in bickering,
our trucks will be forcefully withheld," Sidabutar said in
Jakarta.

Highway extortion by officials was less common during the
iron-fisted rule of former president Soeharto but became more
widespread after the dictator stepped down in 1998, he said.

"During the New Order era, we paid only (military) security
personnel. Now, we are facing hoodlums, police stations, police
precincts, patrolling police, military offices, public transport
office personnel, and weigh bridges."

The rampant extortion has sometimes spurred drivers into acts
of violence. In mid-August, several truck drivers, furious over
the illegal levies, went on a rampage and destroyed a collection
post in Natar, South Lampung, putting it out of action for two
months.

While the cost to business for the highway extortion has not
been calculated, it is part of Rp 3 trillion a year in illegal
levies estimated to be paid by businesses nationwide.

The money goes to gangsters, corrupt government officials and
security personnel, a joint study by the Center of Asia-Pacific
Studies and the United States Agency for International
Development says.

The study based on a survey of 100 manufacturing companies in
Sumatra, Java and Bali shows investors paid about 7.5 percent of
their export fees in illegal levies.

The study's team leader, Mudrajad Kuncoro, said recently
official export fees for manufacturing products had reached Rp 4
million a container.

"(It's not surprising) the illegal levies have reached about
Rp 3 trillion because Indonesia exports around 10 million
containers of manufactured products annually," he said.

Jambi's West Tanjungjabung Regent Usman Ermulan called on the
new government to show its commitment to eliminating illegal
levies, to ensure the distribution of basic commodities, and to
attract investors to Sumatra.