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)