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AKARTA: Civil society groups have filed a judicial review to challenge the National Police'€™s authority over the issuance of driver'€™s licenses (SIM).

The groups, which included Gusdurian Network, Malang Corruption Watch, Indonesian Legal Aid Institute and the youth wing of Muhammadiyah petitioned the Constitutional Court (MK) to annul the police'€™s authority in issuing driver'€™s licenses, which they argue contradicts the Constitution, as it only stipulates that the role of the police is to protect and serve the people as well as enforcing the law.

The groups said that the 2002 Police Law and the 2009 Traffic and Land Transportation Law, which gave the police the authority to issue driver'€™s license contravened Article 30 of the Constitution. '€œThe two laws have created complication as they give the police authority to deal with technical issues,'€ lawyer of the groups Erwin Natoesmal Oemar said.

The groups then called on the MK to transfer the authority to the Transportation Ministry as had been practiced in countries like Malaysia. Many have complained that driver'€™s license application process is rife with extortion and graft.

In 2013, the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced former head of the National Police Traffic Corps (Korlantas) Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo to 10 years in prison and confiscated most of the two-star police general'€™s Rp 200 billion (US$14 million) in illicit assets after finding him guilty in a graft case involving a driving simulator procurement project that cost the state some Rp 121 billion in losses.