Sri Bintang wants merger of public transit companies

JAKARTA (JP): An outspoken member of the House of Representatives has suggested the authority to ask all privately- owned public transportation companies to merge so that they can be properly controlled in order to provide more comfortable desirable transportation means.

"In many countries, public transportation is always monopolized by the authorities which assign a special body to oversee it," Sri-Bintang Pamungkas told a seminar yesterday.

"The body is then required to manage the firm in a professional way and is allowed to decide on a certain bus fee," he said. "If it went bankrupt, the body should be subsidized by the government to continue its services to the public."

In Indonesia, he said, public transportation services are carried out by many private companies under a fee schedule set by the government with no subsidy.

"As a result, the companies compete with each other to earn as much profit as they can without having to serve the public properly," he said. Then, if they fail to reach the target, including bribing officers, they can easily go on strike.

The recent massive strike by minibus drivers in the city attests to the inefficiency of the current Indonesian transportation system, Sri-Bintang pointed out.

The monopoly of such a public utility, he said, is allowed by Indonesia's Constitution. "It's time now for the government to monopolize public transportation services, especially in the big cities."

A must

Asked to comment on the proposal, Director General of Land Transportation Soejono said that the participation of private companies in the city transportation system is a must due to the government's limited budget.

"The government is still subsidizing a wide range of transportation means in many provinces outside Java, but in a big city like Jakarta the private sector has to participate," he said.

The one-day seminar on car producers, traffic order and national development was opened by Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto.

Organized by an automobile magazine, it was the first of its kind held in the wake of last week's crippling strike. The minibus drivers were protesting the new fine scale and the way traffic police officers ticketed them for committing minor traffic offenses.

An executive of the Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) revealed that the main problem in supervising the privately-owned public vehicles is that most of the owners are military and civil service officers.

Chairman of the Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo), Herman Z. Latif, proposed establishing a national council which might help the government discuss or propose a draft related to the transportation system.

"The existence of the council is expected to help propose the draft and make the public fully understand the law," Herman said. (bsr)