Hundreds of 3-in-1 offenders stand trial in court, treated harshly

M. Taufiqurrahman and Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Hundreds of three-in-one traffic offenders lined up at the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday, in marathon sessions to convict and fine them Rp 50,000 (US$5.90) for the offense.

The defendants filed into courtroom, waiting for their turn to hand in their tickets and pay the fine. They were not given a chance to defend the charges.

Bailiffs had recorded 850 traffic offenses to be heard during the five-hour session on Tuesday, of which 261 cases were for the new three-in-one policy. However, only 118 cases of the three-in- one policy made it to court as the other offenders failed to appear.

Sole judge Mulyani ordered all the offenders to pay the fines, an amount far smaller than a one-month jail term and Rp 1 million fine, or six-month jail term and Rp 500,000 fines stipulated by related traffic bylaws.

"All offenders were ordered to pay Rp 50,000, as I consider we are still in the early stages of promoting the new regulations," Mulyani said.

Mulyani said the court did not have to hear the defendants' arguments because "if the defendants already signed the tickets, it meant they have admitted they violated certain traffic regulations."

One of those fined, Priyono, said that the new three-in-one policy had made it difficult for him to carry out his job properly.

"I got the ticket as I entered the restricted zone driving a pick-up truck carrying medicines to the city hospital. The cargo has to get there before 8 a.m. I had no clue the policy also applied to cargo trucks," he said.

To deal with the policy, the company he worked for was now using motorcyclists to distribute the medicines, he said.

By order of a gubernatorial decree, the three-in-one policy has been in effect since Jan. 23 to support the controversial busway project.

Urban activist and lawyer Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto said a gubernatorial decree had no legal power to enforce sanctions against offenders. The city administration should have made a special bylaw on the three-in-one new policy, he said.

"Any regulations which put sanctions on the public should be endorsed by the city council, which should control the implementation of the sanctions. The content of the decree has exceeded the administration's authority."

Governor Sutiyoso -- aware that Jakartans begrudge his three- in-one policy -- said his administration would undergo an evaluation on the policy based on input from the public.

Councillor Posman Siahaan, who is part of a committee overseeing legal and administrative affairs, said the council had no intention to revise its bylaws on traffic or to design a special bylaw for the three-in-one policy.

He admitted he had not read the decree on the three-in-one policy.