Councilors strongly oppose Sutiyoso's decision on 'becak'

Councilors strongly oppose Sutiyoso's decision on 'becak'

JAKARTA (JP): City councilors and an official of the City
Public Order Office asked Governor Sutiyoso yesterday to
reconsider his decision to allow becak (pedicabs) to operate on
Jakarta's streets again.

They said the decision violated City Ordinance No. 11/1988 on
the eradication of becak from the city's five mayoralties.

Afif Hamka of the United Development Party said that Sutiyoso
should be able to respect the existing laws and regulations.

"Everybody, I mean everybody, has to abide by the
regulations," he said.

Afif deplored the fact that Sutiyoso had made and announced
the decision to allow the return of pedicabs in the capital
without consulting the City Council.

"He should have known that there is what we call the
consultation phase in any decision making process," he said.

Lukman F. Mokoginta from the Indonesian Democratic Party
accused Sutiyoso of violating the procedure and regulation.

"First, he made the decision without ever consulting the City
Council. Second, his decision is totally contradictory to the
existing regulation," he said.

The governor should have made a formal regulation to oversee
the implementation of his decision, he said.

"He should have annulled Ordinance No. 11/1988 first before
planning a decree for the implementation of the decision," said
Lukman.

Article 18 of the ordinance declares Jakarta as a pedicab-free
area and prohibits any pedicabs from operating at anytime,
anywhere around the capital.

According to the head of the city's public order and
entertainment unit, Toha Reno, the city had officially fought
against pedicabs for 19 years before finally banning them totally
in 1991.

"It took billions of rupiah to finance the war against becak.
We had to work night and day running after every single becak in
the capital. We lost two or three of our colleagues during the
early 1990s raids on various pedicab drivers' villages in North
Jakarta," he said.

In the 1988/1989 fiscal year, the city allocated at least Rp
100 million in its budget for the becak eradication program
alone, said Toha.

"The governor's tolerance for becak drivers to get money to
survive the crisis is very humane. Yet, it will only create more
problems, ranging from traffic jams to clashes between becak
drivers and ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers," he said.

"Besides, becak drivers usually consist mainly of illegal
migrants from West and Central Java, who never care about getting
Jakarta identity cards. They only come here for money. Now, tell
me who will really get the benefit of it. Are they really
Jakartans?" he said.

Toha reminded that it would be more difficult for the city to
ban the becak again after the "tolerable period" was over.

"We're not as rich as we were in the past. The eradication
program needs a lot of money. Don't forget, becak drivers have
never been willing to give up their jobs and they never will be,"
he added.

He said his office would likely continue keeping an eye on the
becak despite Sutiyoso's warm invitation to becak drivers to
operate here again.

"The decision has not been formally written on official
letterhead. Moreover, we have not received any official
instruction to stop our raids on becak either," he said.

Toha also reminded people who recently imported truckloads of
becak from other regions to return their property.

"Some Jakartans are believed to have brought becak from West
Javan areas like Palimanan, Indramayu and Cirebon. But we have
not made any move, yet," he said.

Thousands of pedicabs were voluntarily taken out of Jakarta
during the 1988 to 1990 war on becak by the owners.

The city gave the owners the chance to take the seized
pedicabs from the police and military district offices to send
them to other areas. Thousands of becak, which were not claimed
by the owners, were then burnt and crushed.

Separately, Solichin, regent of Serang in West Java, had also
planned to send 1,500 people and their pedicabs to Jakarta,
Antara reported Saturday.

Deputy Governor for Administration Affairs Abdul Kahfi said
yesterday that he would impose stern sanctions on those who
illegally imported becak from other areas.

Sutiyoso's decision to allow the return of pedicabs was warmly
hailed by a housewife named Sinta of Bendungan Hilir, South
Jakarta, who said she liked the idea of having pedicabs to
temporarily serve the capital.

"It's more convenient to ride becak rather than ojek or bemo
(three-wheeled public transportation vehicles) when we bring our
goods back from the market. It's cheaper too," she said
yesterday.

However, the administration should be able to control the
pedicabs so that they would not cause more traffic problems, she
said.

An ojek driver in Bendungan Hilir named Amat said the return
of becak would only cause disputes between ojek and becak
drivers .

"The existence of becak, especially in residential or market
areas, will be a threat to ojek drivers like me because we will
have to share customers with them," he said.

"We're afraid that many people will prefer becak rather than
ojek because our tariffs are higher than theirs because we use
gasoline," Amat added. (cst)