Vehicle office's new move not a blow for brokers

Vehicle office's new move not a blow for brokers

JAKARTA (JP): City police may have simplified the notoriously
complicated procedures for renewing registration of motor
vehicles, but for the brokers who have long been involved in the
registration process it is business as usual.

The police and the city administration have tied up with a
company which promises "fast and comfortable" service for
applicants who have no time or are just reluctant to pay the
registration fees directly to the police offices.

The company, PT Sakra Bima Mandala Persada, whose chief
commissioner is tycoon Hutomo Mandala Putra, President Soeharto's
third son, is backed up by eight banks and a computerized system.

But middlemen operating at the joint police-city
administrative office for vehicle registration at the city police
headquarters told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the number of
their clients had not declined since the new procedure became
available to the public a week go.

"I still have up to about 10 clients everyday," said a
29-year-old broker, who gets between Rp 5,000 and Rp 25,000
(US$2.25 and $11.20) from each client, depending on the type of
document they need to have processed.

The brokers said they believed that the public was not very
interested in the opening of the more than 50 service outlets in
the banks which are working with PT Sakra Bima.

"One of the reasons is that we have special discount rates for
our regular customers - the ones who always come to us with a
bunch of documents," said one middleman.

The cooperation between the police and PT Sakra Bima has drawn
strong criticism from legislators as well as the public since the
company entered into the agreement with seven private banks to
open 52 service counters at the banks' branch offices in and
around the city.

It has been claimed that the expansion of the firm's services,
endorsed by both the governor and city police, will result in
unjustifiably high profits for the firm.

Under the new scheme offered by the firm, applicants do not
have to wait in long queues at police offices because they can
pay the administrative fee over the counter at the banks
involved.

PT Sakra Bima started the business in late 1993 in cooperation
with only one bank, city-owned Bank DKI.

According to PT Sakra Bima's managing director, M. Djufri
Thalib, the primary aim of the operation is to increase the
"comfort" of vehicle owners attending to registration documents.

Applicants have to pay administration fees of about Rp 10,000
(US$4.50) for the processing of motorcycle registration documents
and about Rp 20,000 for car registration documents, varying
according to type and model.

The firm promises to complete the process within two and three
days.

Those intending to pay directly at the police offices can have
their documents completed in just one day, but to do so they have
to jostle in small, crowded rooms for many hours.

Applicants have complained of bad service in their dealings
with unsmiling police officers and city administration staff.

It was these problems that first gave rise to the many brokers
at the registration offices. At the joint office of the city
police headquarters, for instance, dozens of brokers, including
female ones, approach visitors to the four-story office and offer
their services.

The brokers enjoy good relations with the officials and can
have their clients' documents completed in a matter of hours.

If you wants to attend to your documents by yourself, you have
to go to the office in the morning and wade through complicated
procedures until late afternoon.

With the brokers' help, you can have your documents completed
in less than two hours.

"I give half of the clients' fee money to 'my man' on the
other side of the counter," a broker admitted. (bsr)