Officials to be questioned over fishy levy collection

TANGERANG (JP): The regency office will soon question officials of a local fishery agency in connection with an 8 percent levy it collected from fishermen selling fish at Surya Bahari village's fish auction market in Pakuhaji district.

The Tangerang Regency Office spokesman, Slamet Putranto, said on Saturday that his office would also soon order the agency to immediately hand over the management of the market to a cooperative unit run by the fishermen.

"The management of the fish auction market at Surya Bahari has been officially provided to the fishermen's Mina Samudra cooperative unit as stipulated in a decree issued by the regent based on a decree issued by the West Java governor and another one signed by three related ministers," Slamet said.

"The fishery agency does not have the authority to stop the fishermen's cooperative unit managing the market," he added.

Earlier in the day, representatives of some 1,000 local fishermen in the area claimed they had been force to pay an 8 percent levy to "hoodlums" for every transaction they made at the market.

According to fisherman Burhanuddin, 42, the auction market serves at least 1,000 boats per day with a daily turnover of between two and three million tons of fish.

"In the beginning, we hoped our cooperative unit would help us eliminate this kind of levy. But what happened is that we still can do nothing because the market is still run by the fishery agency," he said.

Nasirudin, manager of the cooperative unit, said the business unit had obtained decrees from the West Java governor and the Tangerang regent 10 months ago which allows them to take over the management of the market.

"Sadly to say, the agency still refuses to give it to us," he said.

Spokesman Slamet promised his office would soon help solve the case.

"We'll probe the case and question the agency over its refusal to hand over the market's management to the fishermen's cooperative unit," he said.

Fishermen were told by the hoodlums that the levy was for the provincial government (1.5 percent), the regency's administration office (1.5 percent), operational costs (2 percent), sea accident insurance (2 percent) and saving schemes (1 percent), among other things.

Slamet insisted he had no idea of what his office had done with its supposed share of the levy.

"We'll question the agency officials on the whereabouts of the money collected from the levy and where all the money has gone," he said. (41/bsr)