Taxi boat pilots want promise kept

Taxi boat pilots want promise kept

AMBON, Maluku: About 70 water taxi pilots staged a protest on
Tuesday in front of the office of Maluku Governor, demanding the
government keep its promise to provide them with soft loans.

The pilots complained their earnings had dropped significantly
after the situation in Maluku had returned to normal, following
sectarian conflict in the province in 1999 and 2000.

During the conflict, the pilots' income increased as people
chose their water taxi service over land transportation to avoid
hostile areas.

"After our last protest the Maluku government promised to give
us soft loans so we could start other businesses. Now we are
here again to demand the fulfillment of this promise," a
protester, Abdul Jalil Pasilete, 42, said. -- JP