Most people against sticker system: Poll

Most people against sticker system: Poll

JAKARTA (JP): A poll held by the Indonesian Consumers
Foundation (YLKI) last week on the city administration's plan to
implement the traffic sticker system showed that the vast
majority of people opposed it.

YLKI deputy director Agus Pambagio told reporters yesterday
that the poll's results showed that 89.98 percent, or 960 out of
1,068 surveyed respondents, objected to the plan because it would
only burden them further.

"The bottom line is that they did not trust the government.
They did not believe that the government would honestly manage
the money derived from the stickers for the benefit of people
across the board," said Agus.

Agus was speaking after attending a meeting with the
administration's representatives, city councilors and
representatives of several progovernment non-governmental
organizations on the sticker system yesterday.

He said all of his respondents, most of whom (835 people) had
cars, were working people whose offices were on Jl. M.H. Thamrin
and Jl. Sudirman, where the sticker system is to be implemented.

Under the system, vehicles which enter the two roads from 7:30
a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. must have stickers
issued by the city administration. The proposed price for the
sticker is Rp 2,500 (31.25 U.S. cents) for a half-day pass.

The poll, which was held from April 29 to May 2, was roundly
criticized by a representative of a non-governmental
organization, several city councilors and Governor Sutiyoso
himself.

Sutiyoso objected to the poll yesterday, saying that the
respondents's answers were totally inadequate because the
respondents did not understand the matter.

But according to Agus, 95 percent of his respondents said they
were aware of the administration's sticker plan.

Agus said that his respondents were qualified citizens with 42
percent of them having bachelors degrees, 25.75 percent having
diplomas and 8.71 percent earning masters or higher degrees.

Despite this Sutiyoso claimed the respondents would have
certainly approved of the proposed system had they learned about
it thoroughly beforehand.

"Those who participated in this poll did not really understand
the matter. If ever they knew that it was aimed to stimulate them
to use public buses instead of private cars and save money in
this time of crisis ..." he said, adding that the poll failed to
accommodate people who understand and support the system.

The governor blamed the media for the respondents' lack of
understanding on the sticker system. He said the media's negative
reports on the issue had influenced public opinion.

"There are a lot of people out there who support the plan. But
they did not dare to speak their views because they were afraid
to be labeled snobbish," he said.

Ninety-eight respondents, or 9.18 percent, mostly expatriates,
supported the system with some conditions, including transparent
management on the funds. The remaining 0.94 percent of
respondents gave no preference.

A representative from Swadaya Eksponen '66, Rasyid Raniri,
agreed with Sutiyoso, adding that the public not only lacked
understanding about the system but were also against any attempt
by the government to organize their lives.

"Our nation has a bad habit that they like to give their
subjective comments about any of the government's plans or
decisions, especially if they are a new regulation, without
learning about it," he said.

"That's why, it was not strange that the respondents
spontaneously showed their objections toward the sticker system
in the poll because they viewed it as a new irritating
regulation.

"Not to mention their suspicions over the word 'sticker' which
reminded them of the troubled SEA Games stickers," said Rasyid.

A city councilor also lambasted YLKI's poll and argued against
its validity.

"We all here have thought about the methodology of the survey.
How do we know that the poll was really conducted properly," said
the councilor who asked for anonymity.

YLKI's chairwoman, Tini Hadad, defended her office's polling,
saying that it was conducted scientifically.

"The poll was conducted in accordance with accepted
methodology. So the result was accurate," she told reporters as
she left the meeting yesterday.

"If the governor says that he will listen to his people's
voices, then here they are. The respondents of the poll are those
who will certainly be affected by the system," said Tini. (cst)