Scalpers arrested but go unpunished
Scalpers arrested but go unpunished
Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Following a police pledge to crack down on ticket scalpers, 11
perpetrators were captured at Gambir railway station in Central
Jakarta over the past week, but were released within 24 hours of
their arrest due to the lack of legal grounds on which to
prosecute them.
The scalpers were let off after a formal interrogation and
documentation procedures had been completed.
Last week, Jakarta police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bahrul
Alam announced that scalpers could be charged with unruly conduct
under Article 335 of the Criminal Code, or with fraud, extortion
and forgery.
At the Gambir police station in Central Jakarta, police
confirmed they had arrested the scalpers during raids at the
station, but were unable to proceed further due to the fact that
no victim had filed a complaint with the police.
"Thus far, there is no legal provision with which to punish
scalpers. All we can do is to conduct raids. As long as no
complaints have been received from people who feel they have been
victimized, the articles in question cannot be applied," said the
Central Jakarta Police's chief of detectives, Comr. Angesta
Romano Yoyol.
According to state rail company PT Kereta Api Indonesia
spokesman Zainal Abidin, there are 76 Mobile Brigade (Brimob)
personnel stationed at Gambir station and the ticket reservation
office on Jl. Juanda, Central Jakarta, in addition to 180
security guards at the railway station, to monitor and curb the
activities of scalpers.
This was effective in minimizing the number of scalpers,
although not necessarily eliminating them from the railway
station.
They were clearly still present in Gambir on Monday, and were
seen brazenly approaching intending travelers, promising to
obtain tickets for various destinations.
The prices charged by scalpers can be up to 100 percent higher
than the official prices.
"I got the tickets from a travel agent," Ongen, a scalper at
Gambir who claimed to have been operating there for the past
three years, told The Jakarta Post.
In the reservation office, which takes bookings for executive
train tickets only, Brimob and PT KAI security guards were very
much in evidence.
Ticket seekers, some of whom admitted to having bought tickets
from scalpers in the past, were queuing dutifully.
"I bought a ticket from a scalper because at the time I was to
busy to queue, and when I got to the station all the tickets were
sold out," said company employee Ruli Marpaung.
The lack of an adequate legal framework, the habits of
travelers and the ineffectiveness of PT KAI in managing their
tickets are all contributing factors when it comes to the
prevalence of scalpers, according to Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto of
the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute.
"A legal basis should be established in order to prosecute the
scalpers. The city councillors could draft a bylaw outlawing this
activity," Tubagus said.