Council to hold discussion on traffic sticker scheme

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)