Drivers queried after rally over illegal fees

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.