Rustam vague on tinted windows
Damar Harsanto and Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In another blatant show of bureaucratic ineptitude, City Transportation Agency head Rustam Effendy denied on Wednesday that his office had been working on the issuance of a gubernatorial decree to regulate the opacity of tinted films for car windows, as he had stated on Jan. 27 and Jan. 28.
He instead claimed that his office was trying to secure a ministerial decree to support the policy.
"Thereafter, we will think of drafting the gubernatorial decree," Rustam told reporters at City Hall.
He also insisted that he had never told the media that the decree was expected to take effect sometime this month.
This is not the first time Rustam has retracted his own statements.
On Jan. 28, he corrected a statement he made a day earlier and said the opacity permitted in the new regulation would be 30 percent, and not between 40 percent and 60 percent as he had said on Jan. 27.
Rustam's latest statement, however, contradicts Governor Sutiyoso's, who confirmed on Tuesday that his office was drafting a decree on enforcing an opacity limit for tinted car windows.
"We haven't yet decided the date of enactment," Sutiyoso said.
The decree, he said, would be drafted in reference to City Bylaw No. 12/2003 on traffic, which authorized him in his capacity as governor to enforce traffic policies without the consent of City Council.
Since the administration floated the idea last month, many car owners have expressed disagreement with it, arguing that darkened windows were security precautions against muggers and car thieves, and also protected passengers from direct sunlight.
Even if the policy does take effect this month, steady sales of low-opacity tinted film at several car accessory shops across Jakarta indicate that most car owners are reluctant to have clear windows.
"We only sell 15 to 20 tinted films per month, which is our normal sales volume," Ayung, who owns a spare parts shop in Palmerah Market, West Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
He also said several customers had bought high-opacity film the day before, against the planned regulation.
Halim, who sells tinted film at Atrium Senen, Central Jakarta, also recorded a similar trend.
"We sold three or four window films this week, both light and dark ones. Nothing unusual," he said.
Wandi, who runs a major supplier of tinted window film on Jl. Kapten Tendean, South Jakarta, complained about the proposed regulation, as he had a lot of high-opacity film in stock.
"What should we do with it? The government should have considered what would happen to our business," he said.
He also said he had fielded many questions on the maximum opacity allowed, if the new regulation took effect, but only a few customers had changed the film on their car windows.
"Most of the customers said they would wait and see whether the administration is really serious about the regulation because it's been the case that new regulations are applied seriously only for the first two months. Then it's business as usual again," he said.
"Customers don't want to waste their money on something that's only going to be used for a short time."