Middlemen no strangers to local legal system
Middlemen no strangers to local legal system
JAKARTA (JP): Traffic violators routinely avoid lengthy court procedures and hearings by using middlemen, said a junior secretary for the Central Jakarta District Court yesterday.
Budiman Sijabat told The Jakarta Post that his efforts to do away with middlemen have been in vain since people prefer to save the time and effort.
"The traffic violators are too impatient to go through court procedures," Sijabat said.
Middlemen, whose presence in the city's courts is a common sight, operate by offering to get back confiscated driver's licenses, which the police routinely seize for violating traffic regulations.
Waiting for the courts to formally process cases and determine fine levels can take up an entire day or longer. As a result, many choose to pay the intermediaries to get their licenses back without having to face a judge.
Sijabat said he has been able to ban some middlemen from the court areas, but that many linger on. "I've even found them operating outside the building," he said.
"One solution," he said, "is to not release any driver's licenses until they've gone through the proper legal procedures."
Bambang Surianto, who was among hundreds of people waiting for a traffic hearing yesterday, had his license seized by police after making an illegal turn in the Central Jakarta area.
According to Bambang, paying Rp 30,000 to a middleman to get his license back is easier and faster than sitting in court and waiting for a judge to set a fine, which is usually between Rp 26,000 and Rp 60,000.
"I feel more satisfied and I'm sure that most of the money I pay also goes into the government treasury," he told the Post after giving money to a man he said was a middleman.
Brokers only get a small percentage of each job, he explained, the rest probably goes to the police.
A court official, who requested anonymity, said the court handles nearly 200 traffic violation cases every Tuesday and Friday.
"Up to half of those scheduled for court opt for middlemen," he said.(03)