Pedicab drivers protest on Surabaya streets
SURABAYA (JP): Five thousand pedicabs drove through the city's thoroughfares yesterday, carrying banners and posters to protest traffic rules that restrict their areas of operation.
Peddling their three-wheeled vehicles adorned with small, red- and-white Indonesian flags, the drivers gathered in front of the Wonokromo Zoo before going to Grahadi Building, the office of East Java Governor Basofi Soedirman, via Jl. Raya Darmo, Jl. Urip Sumohardjo and Jl. Basuki Rahmat.
Their number grew as more pedicab drivers along the way joined them.
Traffic was stopped for several hours.
Security officials, who watched the convoy, tried in vain to disperse the crowd. The protesters then unfurled banners, some said: "Pay attention to common people," "Don't abandon us," or "Where's your wisdom, government?"
The drivers failed to meet Basofi or Surabaya Mayor Sunarto Sumoprawiro.
One driver, Sukarton, said the demonstration was a spontaneous reaction to the introduction of traffic rules which restricted operating areas for pedicabs.
"If we can't operate on roads such as Jl. Soetomo, Kutei and Diponegoro, where will we work to earn our living?" he said.
City traffic police chief Lt. Col. Sulistyo finally met the drivers, and promised to take their grievances to the appropriate authorities. The drivers dispersed peacefully at midday.
A source said the local administration was planning to phase pedicabs out of the city and replace them with minibuses.
In 1990, Jakarta began a painful program to phase out pedicabs which dissatisfied many people. Then governor Wiyogo Atmodarminto came under fire over the campaign to phase them out in favor of more 12-seat mikrolet buses, motorized three-wheeled bajaj and bemo vehicles.
Much of the community protested Wiyogo's program, from the press to housewives who had been using the pedicab services.
Among the most cited reasons for phasing out pedicabs was that the service was inhumane given the drivers' strenuous work of peddling.
Surabaya's traffic was chaotic yesterday not only because of the pedicab drivers' demonstration but also because a fire gutted a row of electronic goods shops on Jl. Tunjungan.
The fire began in a shop that sold Yasonta brand goods. It took firefighters on 13 fire trucks several hours to contain the blaze before it reached a denser commercial area housing restaurants, shops and the Siola supermarket.
Genteng police chief Capt. Aditya W. said police had not yet established the cause of the fire.
"There have been too many conflicting reports. People said the fire was because of a short circuit, a cooking stove that exploded, and other things. We're still studying it," he said. (nur)