Four days in jail cheaper than $2

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)