Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan faces a legal challenge following his controversial move to close Jl. Jatibaru Raya in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, to accommodate street vendors after social organization Cyber Indonesia filed a police report against him for allegedly violating the law.

Cyber Indonesia chairman Muannas Alaidid said in a statement that Anies had violated Article 12 of Law No. 38/2004 on road use, which stipulates that no person is allowed to conduct any activity that interferes with the function of a road. Those proven to have violated the law could face an 18-month prison sentence and face a fine of up to Rp 1.5 billion (US$109,722).

The report was submitted to the Jakarta Police on Thursday night.

In its statement, the organization said the governor’s controversial move not only contravened the law, but also caused several other problems.

“The move to accommodate street vendors on the road has not reduced the number of vendors occupying the sidewalk in Tanah Abang, who say they did not receive stalls to sell their goods on the road,” the statement said.

In December, the Jakarta administration closed one lane of Jl. Jatibaru Raya in front of Tanah Abang Station and provided the street vendors with tents for free.

Muannas added that the new regulation had also triggered protests from public minivan drivers who claimed that their income had decreased significantly because of the closure. The drivers had previously transported a large number of passengers along Jl. Jatibaru Raya as the gate of Tanah Abang Station is located on the road.

Commenting on the report, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said the police would examine whether there were any criminal aspects regarding the case.

Separately, Anies only replied to journalists’ questions with a smile and short reply, “I don’t have any comment [on the report].”

The governor did not answer when asked about the road closure policy.

The Jakarta Police traffic division had previously asked the governor to reconsider the new regulation as they found that traffic congestion had worsened along the surrounding streets, such as on Jl. Fachrudin between Tanah Abang and Tomang in West Jakarta.

The governor acknowledged he had received the police’s recommendation, but said he did not have a plan to follow up the request. “The recommendation has been received, but there is no follow up on it,” said the former education minister.

Jakarta Police traffic management director Sr. Comr. Halim Pagarra reminded the governor about Law No. 22/2009 on traffic and land transportation, which stipulates that the police had to be involved in any decision about the use of roads.

“According to the law, permission for the road’s utilization has to come from the police,” Halim said.

Abdul Fickar Hadjar, a criminal law expert from Trisakti University, said the report submitted to the police was nonsensical because regional leaders have the absolute authority to change the function of the road in order to better manage the life of residents in their cities.

“The authority of regional leaders is stipulated in Law No. 23/2014 on regional administration, or more specifically in Law No. 29/2007 on governance of the special region of Jakarta. If they want to legally challenge this case, they should file their case with the administrative court instead,” he said, claiming that those who filed the police report against Anies were a bunch of sensation-mongers.

According to the head of the Center of Public Policy Study from Trisakti University, Trubus Rahardiansyah, the city’s ruling on Tanah Abang is problematic since it is not only breaking the law but also detrimental to the public.

“Anies and Sandi [Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno] claim that they enacted such a policy to show that they are siding with the street vendors, whereby they turned the vendors into their political tool to revise the policies of previous governors without legal grounding,” he said.

He suspected that the policy on Tanah Abang was not purely for the street vendors’ sake but more for the interest of their political and business ambitions.

“They think that with 58 percent of the vote, they would get full support from the public, hence making populist policies that would take him [Anies] to the national [political] stage,” he said.

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