Council to hold discussion on traffic sticker scheme

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council announced yesterday it would invite critics of the highly controversial traffic sticker system for input before it seals the plan with a bylaw.

Council speaker Edy Waluyo said the initiative was meant to build "better understanding" between the administration, the legislative council and the public.

Among those to be invited are representatives of non- governmental organizations which have been outspoken against the plan, such as the Jakarta Legal Aid institute and the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI).

Edy said the date for the discussion was still tentative but it would take place before the sticker system try-out from August through November.

"The meeting will be like brainstorming. Thereby I hope each participant will understand better their reasoning and all the good intentions behind the sticker plan," he told reporters.

Edy said the council would act as the facilitator between the public and the executive branch of the bureaucracy.

The system, which the President has endorsed in principle, has been the target of stinging criticism from many quarters since news about the plan was 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. There have also been accusations the policy is discriminative in favor of wealthier citizens even though all taxpayers contribute to the construction of roads.

The plan 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 (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.

Beleaguered governor Sutiyoso has said that the revenues from the implementation of the sticker system will be used to buy more and better public buses.

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

Meanwhile, the YLKI welcomed the council's plan to hold dialogs with NGOs on the project, but was lukewarm to the governor's recommendation.

"(In the meeting) we can listen to what the administration has in mind with the plan," he said.

Agus said, however, that YLKI was not interested in Sutiyoso's idea for an independent body because there was no legal basis for such an organization.

"I don't thing such a body would really work because it would not be able to audit the financial report as the job already belongs to the government state audit agency."

On Wednesday, Minister of Communications Giri Suseno Hadihardjono advised that the city administration adopt a compromise solution of applying the sticker and three-in-one systems concurrently.

"Private cars which carry less than three people would be required to buy a sticker when entering the restricted zone," he said.

Despite efforts at fine tuning the plan, criticism of the system continued to be voiced by people from all walks of life yesterday, among them former minister of transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo and political scholar Arbi Sanit.

Siswono said the project had weak legal basis because a presidential decree cannot be used as the grounds for fee collection under law.

Arbi and Siswono said the governor should have consulted the people before deciding on implementing the controversial project.

Cyntia, a student of Pancasila University, contended that the sticker price of Rp 5,000 for day-long entry to restricted zones was too expensive.

"Not all motorists are rich," she said.

"It seems that the government means to impose its own will and won't listen to the people," said lecturer Maria Margaretha from Rawamangun, East Jakarta. (ind)