Council wants revocation of bylaw banning pedicabs

Council wants revocation of bylaw banning pedicabs

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council vowed on Tuesday to fight for
the revocation of a 1988 bylaw that prohibits becak (pedicab)
from operating in the city.

Deputy Council Speaker Tarmidi Suhardjo told representatives
of some 2,000 pedicab riders staging a protest in front of the
council building on Tuesday that the council was considering
issuing a bylaw that will allow limited pedicab operations in the
city.

"We will soon invite executives of the City administration to
discuss a plan to revoke the bylaw and arrange for a new one," he
said.

"The new bylaw will regulate the operational zones for
pedicabs," Tarmidi from the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) said.

"In the future, pedicabs may be allowed to operate in certain
areas, such as housing complexes. But the city's main streets
will remain prohibited for them."

The bylaw No. 11/1988 on Public Order prohibits pedicabs from
being operating anywhere in the city.

Chairwoman of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) Wardah Hafidz,
who led the protest, said they would return to the City Council
building early next month to find out whether the council keeps
its promise on the new bylaw.

She said the new bylaw should clearly state the regulations
for pedicab drivers trying to cross the city's main streets,
which often connect two separate residential areas.

"For the time being, we call on the City administration to
stop seizing pedicabs," she said.

Some 2,000 riders with their pedicabs crowded the sidewalks
and parts of Jl. Kebon Sirih itself in Central Jakarta, where the
council building is situated, causing traffic jams.

The riders, from the city's five mayoralties, started arriving
gradually in the area early on Tuesday morning.

Some of the drivers unfurled posters demanding they be allowed
to return to the city's streets and the revocation of the bylaws.

Dozens of police officers were deployed to direct the pedicab
riders.

Tarmidi criticized the pedicab riders and the UPC activists
for not notifying the councilors of the protest.

"Council Speaker Edy Waluyo phoned me in the morning and asked
me to greet the pedicab riders. In the future they should inform
us of their visits before they arrive," he said.

But Wardah rejected the accusation, saying she had informed
the Council's secretariat about the protest.

The council's move to revoke the bylaw, however, was
challenged by an executive of the City's public order office Toha
Reno.

"The City Council cannot unilaterally revoke the bylaw without
the City administration's approval," Toha said on Tuesday.

He condemned the pedicab riders for breaking city regulations,
saying most of the drivers were not Jakarta residents.

"They are not Jakarta residents. So they should obey the
city's regulations if they work here," he said.

Earlier last year Governor Sutiyoso said he would tolerate the
pedicab riders here because of the prolonged economic crisis.

Since then the number of pedicabs have increased
significantly. Sutiyoso then revoked his statement, ordering his
officials to conducts raid against pedicabs. (jun)