Doubts over police vow to eradicate ticket scalpers
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.