Drivers queried after rally over illegal fees

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Bandung Police is questioning more than 40 crews of container trucks after a rally they held to protest widespread levies and demand a whole day of access to Padalarang toll road ended in violence on Tuesday.

Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Edwardsyah Pernong said the truck drivers and their assistants were accused of causing a public disturbance as their protest caused traffic congestion and incited a clash between carriage drivers and local residents.

At least three truck drivers were injured in the fight, one of them, Hartono, was rushed to Sartika Asih Hospital due to serious wounds.

The protesters, who were grouped under the Indonesian Port Transportation Labor Union (SBTPI), complained about levies demanded by police patrolling the toll road between Padalarang and Sadang. It was the second protest in the past two months.

The West Java Land Traffic Transportation Agency, confirming a 1993 decree issued by the minister of transportation, has banned containers from traveling on the Padalarang toll road during daylight hours because they caused traffic jams.

SBTPI secretary-general Teguh Susilo said the police had taken advantage of the regulation by demanding levies amounting to between Rp 50,000 (US$5.5) and Rp 200,000 from errant container truck drivers.

Another driver, Deden Fachrurozi, said most employers refused to reimburse the levies. "If we have to regularly pay the levies ourselves, how can we can afford to eat?" he said.

Teguh said the partial ban imposed on containers did not make any sense because nobody could restrict shipping arrangements, which are dependent upon exports.

"We have to quietly operate during the day to avoid fines from foreign importers who always demand swift service. But the police have taken advantage of this situation," Teguh said.

Bandung Police allows the containers to use the toll road between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. every day from Monday to Friday and between 9 a.m. and 12 noon every Sunday. Containers are banned on Saturdays.

Deden said traveling at night was risky as the drivers could fall asleep or face street robbers.

A previous protest was left unheeded because both the police and the provincial legislature found the restriction on containers had helped ease traffic on the toll road.

Police fired warning shots to disperse the warring groups on Tuesday. Pernong said the clash could have been avoided had the protesting truck drivers ended their rally, as demanded by carriage drivers operating close to the access road, who feared a drop in revenue.

The protest began at around 2 a.m. after the drivers returned from Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta.