Doubts over police vow to eradicate ticket scalpers

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police vowed on Tuesday to crack down on ticket scalpers operating at bus terminals and railway stations but public transport users responded coldly to the statement, which they regard as little more than lip service.

"All bus terminals and railway stations must be free from them (ticket scalpers). I don't want to hear that they are still operating at those venues," said Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb.

He said strict action would be taken against scalpers and those who help supply them with tickets, in a move to provide better service for passengers bound for their hometowns to mark Idul Fitri, a tradition known as mudik.

"We want to ensure the safety and comfort of public transport users," he said.

Ticket scalpers can be found at almost all bus terminals and train stations here. They operate day and night, approaching passengers to offer much sought after tickets at higher prices.

It is believed that they are backed by officials who work at the ticket offices.

Sofjan said the number of ticket scalpers had got out of hand ahead of the festivities due to the high demand from people who were aiming to travel back to their hometowns.

Meanwhile, a would-be passenger Arman, who works as a broker at a securities firm here, doubted the police's commitment to eradicating ticket scalpers.

"How can the police eliminate ticket scalpers. So many passengers are in dire need of tickets, while ticket offices say that all tickets have already sold out," said Arman, moaning that he had not been able to get a ticket to Madiun in East Java.

Separately, Jati Setyowati, a university student at Atmajaya University agreed, saying it was difficult to obtain tickets at the moment because many people had been queuing for the tickets during the last couple of weeks.

"Right now, it is difficult to get tickets, except from scalpers," she said.

An official had claimed that they could not get rid of ticket scalpers because of a lack of legislation prohibiting such activities.

City Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam, said ticket scalpers could be charged with unruly conduct under Article 335 of the Criminal Code.

"They could also be charged with fraud, extortion, or forgery," he said.

He called on those wishing to travel not to buy tickets from ticket scalpers.

"The war against ticket scalpers will only be effective when people stop buying tickets from them," Anton said.

He also said that the police would deploy a total of around 17,000 personnel to tighten security in anticipation of the growing number of offenses at places where people are likely to concentrate, such as markets, shopping malls, bus terminals where pickpocketing and petty theft were among the common crimes.