Give ticket fines to police: Official
Give ticket fines to police: Official
JAKARTA (JP): State revenues generated from ticket fines
should be used to improve the welfare of those officers used in
traffic operations, an official said yesterday.
The head of the city office of the Ministry of Transportation,
Abdul Karim Tjokroprawiro, said regular traffic monitoring teams
should be created to replace occasional traffic operations which
burden the city and related agencies and do not generate enough
ticket revenues.
"This way traffic violators would bear the cost of paying the
officers," Abdul Karim said.
Traffic gets worse after these incidental operations, which
generally end when the funds are exhausted, he added.
"I guarantee that improving the welfare of our officers will
improve discipline and discourage bribery among officers and
those who are ticketed," he said.
Ticket fines go to the state treasury "and just sit there,"
Abdul Karim said. He suggested allocating at least half of the
fine revenues for traffic monitoring teams.
During the period of March 1993 until last month, ticket fines
deposited at the state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia reached Rp 1
billion (US$426.4 million).
National Police Chief Let. Gen. Dibyo Widodo told legislators
that requests have been forwarded to the Ministry of Finance
suggesting how the money should be used.
Traffic operations are currently funded by the City Police,
the municipality, the Land Traffic Control Agency and other
bodies that have officers involved.
Abdul Karim said he has begun discussing his office's ideas
with other government bodies.
Abdul Karim said that he doubted if the 1992 Traffic Law,
which increased fine amounts, was enforceable under current
conditions.
Sporadic funding has reduced the effectiveness of the
discipline movement and not curbed bribery practices, he said.
Abdul Karim also responded to the controversy surrounding the
Rp 1,800 fee that is being charged for air-conditioned express
buses. The increased fee was set on May 25 by the Jakarta branch
of the Association of Public Transport Owners, Organda, without
consulting with Governor Surjadi Soedirdja.
The governor has said that the city will rule on the fare, but
passengers continue to pay Rp 1,800.
Abdul Karim said the government only regulates the fares of
regular buses, while private transport vehicles are allowed to
set their fees themselves.
"But since the governor is the leader of a province he should
be notified first," he said. If Surjadi said that a city rule
should decide the new fees that is up to the governor, he added.
"Essentially the fee is determined by the market, so
passengers unwilling to pay Rp 1,800 should take other buses,"
Abdul Karim said. (anr)