Public Order offices get 13 new pickups

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso on Tuesday handed over 13 patrol pickup trucks worth some Rp 1.3 billion (US$ 144,000) to representatives of the City Public Order Office and five mayoralties in an effort to enable the public order officials to uphold city regulations in the capital.

"The public order officials will have greater mobility with these new vehicles so I expect them to perform much better," he told reporters after inspecting the vehicles on display at the City Hall.

In the future, he added, he hopes each of the city's 43 subdistricts could have at least one patrol car for their operations.

He gave no explanation on the existing number of operational vehicles the public order officials currently have.

According to head of the City Asset Office, Hussein Djawas, the Isuzu Panther pickups cost Rp 100 million each and were purchased with the City Budget.

"The price already includes radio communication, sirens and (wooden) seats at the back and the repainting of the vehicles," he said.

Three of the brown pickups were given to the City Public Order Office, while the remaining 10 vehicles were divided between the five mayoralties.

During the inspection of the cars, the governor also started the engine of one of the pickups, turned on its audio system and the rotator light.

Earlier in the morning, the governor attended an evaluation meeting on public order operations carried out recently by the city administration to restore public order in the capital.

"I have to admit the operation is yet to achieve its objectives. That's why we held the evaluation meeting to find out the weaknesses," Sutiyoso told reporters.

"Each district has its own characteristics and problems so we have to be careful in evaluating the problems," he added, while asking residents to cooperate in upholding public order in the city.

He pointed to the fact that residents still used the services of street people, such as illegal traffic wardens and three-in- one jockeys.

"Residents always demand that the city administration cleanse the streets of those people but ironically still use their services," he said.

"It will be better if residents quit from using the street people's services so they will find it useless to operate on the streets," he added.

The governor also admitted a lack of support from the Jakarta Police.

"Yes, it's obvious the police don't take part in the operations although they have pledged their help," he said. (nvn)