T

he Jakarta Police have vowed to impose a zero tolerance policy on public minibus drivers who do not have a valid public transportation driver license.

The public transportation SIM A driver license is issued only for public minibus drivers.

“We will impose consistent law enforcement on generic SIM A driving licenses. A minibus driver who does not have a valid license will have his vehicle confiscated by the police immediately,” Jakarta Police traffic directorate deputy chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Tomex Kurniawan told reporters at the police headquarters in South Jakarta on Friday.

Tomex said that most public minibus drivers only had regular SIM A driver licenses; the same that ordinary citizens carried.

“Minibus drivers who do not have the proper license are violating the law,” he said.

Most public minibus drivers in the city do not have the proper driver license, according to a recent report by Kompas daily. About Rp 900,000 (US$101) is needed to apply for a license, while the average income of public minibus drivers in the city is between Rp 25,000 and Rp 30,000 per day.

The official price for processing a SIM A is Rp 120,000 according to government regulation.

Jakarta Transportation Council (DTKJ) chairman Azas Tigor Nainggolan has said that there is widespread corruption in the management of public transportation vehicles in the city.

Commenting on the police’s plan to check licenses, University of Indonesia public policy analyst Andrinov Chaniago said that the police needed to clean their own ranks first.

“The root of the problem is within the police institution. Some of their officers are often responsible for providing shortcuts for drivers who want to obtain driver licenses,” he said.

“It is important to impose strict law enforcement in the field, but the police must also not forget their responsibility to clean their own institution,” he added.

Andrinov added that the city’s transportation agency was also to blame.

“Numerous officials at the agency like to back up public transportation business owners to obtain licenses [through illegal ways], whether for operations or for their drivers,” he said.

Previously, public policy and transportation experts criticized the city administration for its failure to provide a safe and secure public transportation system.

The city recently saw two serious crimes committed in public minibuses.

The latest case occurred in South Jakarta in which a woman, identified only as R.S., helped catch a driver of a public minivan who, along with three of his friends, had allegedly raped her two weeks before.

The gang-rape was similar to an incident involving Bina Nusantara University (Binus) student Livia Pavita Soelistio earlier last month. Livia was strangled to death inside a public transportation minivan while traveling from her campus in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, on Aug. 16.

Livia was raped in the minibus after falling unconscious, and her body was dumped in a gutter in Serpong, South Tangerang. The Police have arrested six people in connection with the case.