Councillors ticketed in police bust

TANGERANG: In a joint operation with the regency administration, Tigaraksa subprecinct police ticketed on Tuesday five regency councillors for changing the license plates of their official cars from red to black.

Official cars have red vehicle plates while private cars have black ones. The councillors allegedly swapped the plates so they could use the cars for matters not considered council business.

Councillors Muhdiar, Yevni Lubis and Surja Tisna Sanjaya immediately followed police orders to display the correct vehicle plates, which they still kept in the cars.

Two other councillors, Kamaludin and M. Syafei, promised to make the replacement soon as they did not have the original plates in the car.

"As councillors, we must show good examples to society. I just changed the vehicle plate from red to black yesterday," Kamaludin told journalists.

Chief of the regency administration's asset department Mahfud Rasyad, who led the operation, said the raid on Jl. Tigaraksa between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m, would continue for the next few days and would target not only councillors, but also administration staff members.

"Official cars would be seized from councillors and officials if they were found to have violated the regulations three times," he said.--JP