'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