Illegal levies persist at traffic police office

Illegal levies persist at traffic police office

JAKARTA (JP): Illegal levies and poor service persist at city
traffic police office despite incessant criticism from all
quarters and repeated promises by officials to address the
problem.

Jakartans, who tended to ownership documents of their vehicles
at the office over the weekend, said that they were asked to pay
Rp 15,000 (US$6.60) in grease money when they processed their car
ownership documents.

The officers in charge refused to give them receipts without
any reason, the Antara news agency reported Saturday, quoting
applicants.

One housewife, who had the ownership documents of her car
changed, said that the officer "boldly" demanded that she pay Rp
15,000 if she wanted to be looked after.

"The officer refused to give me a receipt and when I asked why
the officer was furious," the woman, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said.

She then saw Col. Suroso, chief of the traffic directorate, at
the office, who told her that she did not have to pay anything
but Rp 4,500, the official administrative fee.

"You don't have to pay a single rupiah over that," she quoted
Suroso.

Suroso's statement was supported by chief of the section in
charge of registration of vehicular documents, Lt. Col. Utjin,
who said that each applicant is required to pay only Rp 4,500 in
an administrative fee.

According to Antara, illegal levies are also rampant in the
section that oversees registration of new vehicles.

A number of applicants have said that they had to pay Rp
25,000 in grease money if they wanted to have their new vehicles'
documents handled "without a problem."

Brokers, who have made a living at the office for a great many
years, said that there was nothing secret about bribing police
officers in charge, if applicants want their documents to get
through with little trouble.

"You ought to have extra funds to do that. There is nothing
new about it," the middleman said.

"If the applicant happens to be member of the Armed Forces, or
the relatives of an official from a respectable institution,
everything goes smoothly and freely," he said.

An officer at the office said that individual officers'
corrupt practices are also known by their superiors.

Illegal levies, brokerage and other forms of poor services are
well known in the city traffic police office, which is jointly
managed with the city administration.

Public complaints and legislators' criticism have occasionally
been responded to with a crackdown but business always gets back
to normal several days after the crackdown.

Officially, the police have always encouraged the public not
to use scalpers and brokers when tending to their business there,
but the suggestions are often ineffective because the arduous
administrative procedures discourage applicants. (pan)