'Dark windows give us privacy'

'Dark windows give us privacy'

The city administration plans to issue a regulation later this
month limiting the opacity of tinted car windows at 30 percent,
down from the 60 percent that is currently allowed. The new
regulation is meant to help police enforce the three-in-one
traffic policy. The Jakarta Post discussed the issue with people
who work at offices located within the three-in-one restricted
zone.

Elice Vienna, 23, works at an office located on Jl. Thamrin in
Central Jakarta. She lives with her parents in Rawamangun, East
Jakarta:

I don't think the city administration has the right to
regulate car accessories, including tinted windows, if they
cannot adequately protect car owners.

Many cars have tinted windows because, as far as I know, they
help protect passengers from the prying eyes of car thieves and
muggers, besides shielding them from the glare of the sun.

Just because they want their busway project to be successful,
the administration officials should not pass such a draconian
regulation. It is an abuse of our right to privacy, according to
me, and there has not been a thorough consideration of its
drawbacks.

Adam, 29, is a copywriter at an advertising company on Jl.
Sudirman in Central Jakarta. He lives with his wife in Kalibata,
South Jakarta:

I don't really mind the regulation on tinted car windows
because, from my own experience living abroad, some states in the
United States, for example, strictly forbid any kind of tinted
windows.

I know there are issues of privacy, security from street
muggers and protection from the sun, but we also have to think of
how difficult it is for the traffic police to enforce the three-
in-one policy if everybody's car windows are pitch black.

So I think this boils down to a problem of mutual trust: that
the authorities can be assured that citizens aren't cheating the
law even though they are allowed to have tinted car windows, and
that citizens are convinced that all these new traffic
regulations are really in the public's interest, and not merely
to support the busway project.

-- The Jakarta Post