Letter: I wish to abide by the rules, but ...

This is a comment on an article titled "Jakarta's good cop, bad cop: Who's to blame, what to do to?" (the Post, March 3).

Like many Jakartans, I tend to opt for the same way out, and for a very simple reason; I run my own business and I cannot afford to be without a driving license for even a day, obviously spending an entire day in a court or police station to settle my debt is not an option either.

Once I was stopped in Bandung, and I began to wonder; would I seriously have to travel up and down to Bandung to pay my fine and get my license back because I (by accident) took a wrong turn?

I agree with the writer's statement that we should not encourage the current system, but I disagree with the solution of simply "obeying" to avoid the situation in the first place.

Why? It is simply because I cannot seem to obey rules. Why can I not obey the rules? Because I do not even know what the rules are, and I guess I'm not the only one. I have been driving in Jakarta for over three years now and in my experience you need to be borderline "paranormal" to be able to predict whether or not you are allowed to take the next U-turn or not.

Or whether today you are going to be encouraged to use the bus lane (something I really don't understand, the bus lane is the bus lane, stay out!) or not. And if you think you know, based on the fact that you have simply been there before, chances are that someone has since changed the traffic rules. It is okay to drive and find your way around Jakarta if you're a Jakartan and if you know the area, but it is nearly impossible to do this flawlessly if it is your first time here.

It is widely known that police "monitoring" does not take place where things actually need to be monitored, but only at places where it is convenient to hang out, and where the chances to make a profit are the biggest; in places where the traffic regulations are so unclear that people are almost forced to go wrong.

I would be more than happy to do it the official way (and pay a little more for my minor mistakes) if it were only possible to settle my fine on the spot. And I would be seriously impressed if the, on average six, officers hanging out on Bunderan HI (Hotel Indonesia) would go and do something useful elsewhere.

Paul Hessels
Jakarta