Police-assisted traffic violations rampant

The crowded Kopaja public minibus crawls slowly through a traffic jam on the slow lane of Jl. Sudirman near the Semanggi cloverleaf, South Jakarta, as a street singer sings a rendition of Neil Sedaka’s “Oh Carol” to dozens indifferent passengers.

After 15 minutes without any significant progress, the Kopaja driver finally decided to enter the fast lane, where the number of vehicles was far fewer, enabling him to run his bus a little bit faster.

Not a moment later, just beside a police post located close to the Jakarta Police headquarters, the bus made a momentary stop, as the conductor came down the vehicle and gave a folded Rp 5,000 (56 US cents) banknote to a middle-aged man standing nearby.

Not long after the conductor got back in the minibus and the vehicle went off, going past the police headquarters, the middle-aged man gave the money to a policeman at the post.

“The money is just something we have to give [to the policemen] to enter the fast lane,” 55-year-old bus conductor Eko later told The Jakarta Post.

Eko serves as a conductor on a P19 Kopaja plying the route between Ragunan in South Jakarta and Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta.

A 2003 gubernatorial decree on traffic control prohibits public buses to enter fast lanes on Jl. Sisingamangaraja, Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin, all of which are part of the main thoroughfare between South Jakarta and Central Jakarta.

However, as slow lanes are more prone to traffic jams, impatient bus drivers often choose to bribe policemen so that they can enter the thoroughfares’ fast lanes.

“We have a target of obtaining a certain amount of money every day. If we get stuck for an hour in a traffic jam in the slow lane, how can we achieve that target?” said Beni, a conductor for a S66 Kopaja bus plying the Blok M and Manggarai route, both in South Jakarta.

Money should also be given to nearby policemen should drivers choose to turn their buses around to serve the reverse route, a measure often taken by bus drivers when they find their buses empty before the end of their route.

“All in all, we have to allocate between Rp 30,000 to Rp 60,000 for bribery every day,” Eko said.

A half-day shift on either Kopaja or Metromini minibuses, lasting between seven to nine hours, generates between Rp 400,000 (US$448) and Rp 500,000. Some Rp 200,000 must be deposited to the driver’s and the conductor’s employer. The rest is used to pay for the bus’ diesel fuel, while the remainder is shared between the driver and the conductor as their take-home pay.

Money for the bribery is taken from either the driver’s share or the conductor’s share. “At the end of the day, I consider myself lucky if I can bring home Rp 100,000 for my family,” Beni said.

Such police-assisted violations of traffic regulations are nothing new in Jakarta.

Rudi, a former public minivan driver, said in late September that minivan drivers had to make daily payments to police officers and transportation agency officials to avoid reprimands if they breach regulations.

Contacted separately, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Baharuddin Djafar said that such actions by traffic police should not be tolerated.

“If the slow lane is jammed, then police officers can improvise by letting public buses enter the fast lane. However, they must not take advantage of the situation by receiving any money from the conductors,” he recently said.

“We will take punitive measures against such officers,” he added. (mim)