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)