Never argue with judges, police

JAKARTA (JP): Never try arguing with a judge in a traffic violation case hearing. You will only be disappointed because the judge will ignore your objections.

Meet Sumarno, 45, who was on trial at the South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday.

He was ticketed for changing the original car license plate made by the police with an embossed plate he ordered from a street-side kiosk.

He told the court that when he was ticketed in Kuningan, there were other cars with the same type of plate, but the police let them go. He also argued that the traffic law did not stipulate that an embossed plate was not allowed.

"But the judge didn't even hear me," Sumarno complained after Tuesday morning's hearing.

He was fined Rp 40,000 and had to pay a Rp 600 trial fee.

Sumarno said it was his first time in court and he decided to attend the trial to seek justice as he believed that he was not wrong.

A judge told The Jakarta Post that any objection should be filed with the police office when a motorist is ticketed, not during the trial.

"Our authority is only to present the verdict," said the judge, who requested anonymity.

Judges in ticketing cases usually ignore any objection from defendants as they do not have time to discuss the problem due to the big number of cases they have to handle.

It is also useless arguing with the police who give you a ticket because the officer would tell you to present the argument before the court.

What is likely to happen is that the officer might offer to settle the incident peacefully, meaning that he would ask you to pay the "fine" directly to him (without any receipt) and then let you go. (04)