Kali Mati drivers look to City Hall to end dispute

JAKARTA (JP): After staging a one-day strike on Sunday, drivers of the M-39 minivans plying the Kota-Pademangan-Senen route packed City Hall on Monday morning to ask Governor Sutiyoso to take strict measures against becak (pedicab) drivers along the route.

Dozens of minivan drivers, whose routes have been blocked by pedicab drivers following clashes on Friday and Saturday between the two groups on Jl. Kali Mati on the border of Central and North Jakarta, complained to City Hall that pedicab drivers had threatened their lives and damaged their vehicles.

During the clashes pedicab drivers vandalized eight of the 75 M-39 minivans and injured one of the drivers, the protesters said before they were received by city public order officials.

The protesters urged the governor, who initially invited the pedicab drivers to ply their trade in the capital before reversing his decision, to protect the minivan drivers from the brutal actions of the pedicab drivers.

"It's the governor who invited the becak drivers to come here. So, it's his responsibility to bring them to order now," said O.B. Ambarita, a spokesman for the M-39 minivan drivers.

Although they have been banned since last August, a large number of pedicabs are still operating in many areas of the city.

The pedicab drivers operating around Kali Mati demanded that the M-39 minivan drivers stop operating in the area after 7 p.m. in order to allow pedicab drivers an opportunity to earn money.

"We usually pick up passengers until 9 p.m., with our peak number of passengers usually coming between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.," said Sitompul, a minivan driver, at City Hall on Monday.

The dispute ignited on Friday evening when a pedicab driver, Surba, was hit by a minivan while trying to stop the vehicle to deliver the pedicab drivers' demands.

Surba was severely injured and rushed to nearby Husada Hospital, but many of his fellow pedicab drivers, believing that he had died, began to pelt stones at passing M-39 minivans.

The pedicab drivers who attacked the minivans usually operate around Jl. Gunung Sahari, Jl. Hidup Baru, Jl. Pademangan III, Jl. Pademangan IV and near the Jakarta Fairgrounds, all of which are located in the Kali Mati area, he said.

A representative of the city's Public Minivan Owners Cooperative, Pardede, reminded the city administration that the actions of the pedicab drivers threatened the lives of the minivan drivers, prevented the drivers from earning a living and threatened the minivan owners' ability to repay their bank loans during the economic crisis.

"Many other minivan drivers plying different routes near the area have also made the same complaints," Pardede said during the meeting with city officials.

In response, Daryanto, from the city's public order office, told the minivan drivers that his office would consult with all related offices and officials to solve the problem.

"We have been consistent in taking strict actions against the pedicabs," Daryanto said.

Local police vowed to protect the minivan drivers beginning on Tuesday.

The M-39 minivan drivers began their strike on Sunday, asking authorities to ban pedicabs from their route to prevent further clashes. (ida/bsr)