The city has been trying to crack down on illegal parking recently, deflating tires and towing the cars of those who park where they shouldn’t. But the biggest obstacle to stopping illegal parking isn’t the parkers themselves, but the criminal thugs who make a living off of the practice.
Deputy Governor of Jakarta Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama said premanisme (thuggery) is a major problem in Jakarta that is preventing parking revenue from being collected properly.
“The parking problem in Jakarta is not about infrastructure. but a problem with people and preman (thugs),” Ahok said at City Hall today as quoted by Antara.
Ahok said the provincial government has found a solution that will prevents this revenue from evaporating into the underworld – making preman into official parking attendants.
“If, previously, they gave their money to the head preman, then we [the provincial government] will become the head preman.”
He explained that the provincial government will give salary to parking attendants that is similar to the income that they usually receive in a day. “If they [parking attendants] get 100,000 to 150,000, then they will be given something similar, but should be properly paid,” he said.
In addition, another option being considered by Ahok is to give the a salary that is twice the minimum wage.”If it’s two times the minimum wage, then payoffs can be stopped,” he said.
The city government also plans to implement an electronic system for parking or parking meters to help address thuggery.
As detailed in this article by The Jakarta Globe, Ali Sadikin, who was the governor of the capital from 1966-1977, was the one who originally gave street thugs control over parking in the city. The plan, which was successful for a time, was for the thugs to split their profits with the government.
Later administrations gave up on the scheme, but by then the preman already had a stranglehold on illegal parking. With a lot of money at stake, the have become adept at avoiding police or paying protection money to the right people so they can keep their lucrative businesses in tact.
So making preman into official parking attendents may not be an ideal solution, but it may be the only solution that could actually work.
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