Tinted car window film rules to be effective in February
Tinted car window film rules to be effective in February
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A new regulation on tinted car window film, currently being
drafted by the Jakarta Transportation Agency, is expected to
become effective as of February.
Agency head Rustam Effendy revised his own statement made on
Wednesday that the opacity limit for tinted film is 60 percent,
correcting it to a 30 percent opacity.
Government Regulation No. 44/1993 stipulates that car windows
can be fitted with tinted film of a limited opacity.
Rustam warned car owners that those who violated the
regulation by fitting higher opacity film would face up to three
months' imprisonment or a maximum Rp 5 million (US$595) fine.
He argued that a new regulation was needed to monitor private
car owners who had been trying to trick officers at checkpoints
of the three-in-one restricted zone.
The issue arose following the high number of violations
recorded during the extended three-in-one traffic policy along
the busway corridor from Blok M, South Jakarta, to Kota, West
Jakarta, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Police and traffic agency officials recorded 1,092 violations
on Monday and 870 violations were recorded by police on Tuesday.
It is not known how many of these involved high-opacity tinted
windows.
"Many motorists do not take the policy seriously. They think
we are just bluffing," Rustam said. "The regulation is also made
for their own safety, because officers can monitor what is
happening inside passing cars."
The regulation is not new to the capital. In the early 1990s,
a similar ruling was imposed on all passenger cars, including
those of government officials, by then-coordinating minister for
political affairs and security Sudomo.
Sudomo banned all cars -- except his own for security reasons
-- from putting tinted films on car windows, following a plan to
enforce a law that required private cars to carry at least four
passengers from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. throughout Jakarta.
For many Jakartans, the plan to regulate the opacity of tinted
films on car windows will spell further trouble.
Onny, a 30-year-old resident of Cempaka Putih, Central
Jakarta, said he had put tinted films on his car windows for his
own comfort and safety.
"The tinted films shield us from sunlight and also prevent
criminals from seeing in. They often target cars without tinted
windows," he said.
He slammed the regulation as only an effort to make it easy
for police to pick out violators of the three-in-one policy.
"The regulation is made to make their jobs easy, and is not
for our safety on the streets -- nor does it consider the
possibility that it will make us potential targets of criminals
at intersections," he said.
"Whenever the government imposes a new regulation, the public
must bow before it."