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)