Four days in jail cheaper than $2

JAKARTA (JP): Judge Adjitro Simarmata could hardly believe his ears when a pedicab driver he found guilty of breaching a traffic rule in Bogor told him he opted to spend four days behind bars instead of paying the Rp 4,500 (US$2) fine.

The driver that Antara identified as SL, 45, was found guilty of having no license in an on-the-spot trial at the Bogor Botanic Gardens, about 30 kilometers south of here, on Thursday.

SL bluntly told the lone judge that he had no money. To judge Simarmata's astonishment, the driver resolutely said "yes" when he, rhetorically, asked him if he would chose to go to jail instead.

He became the toast of the day since he was the only one of the 21 offenders on "instant trial" who chose to go to jail rather than paying fines.

The offenders were rounded up in a bi-weekly street crackdown on undisciplined people caught for offenses ranging from littering to driving without a license. (pan)