Sarno was surprised that the police officer instructed him to drive his Kopaja bus straight towards the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout, missing the u-turn that he usually takes for convenience.
“Usually I’m allowed (to make the turn). But this morning I wasn’t,” Sarno said, as quoted by Warta Kota yesterday.
That may have to do with an amateur video that has gone viral recently, revealing Kopaja employees bribing traffic police officers in the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout, Central Jakarta.
Sarno said the bribery practice in that particular spot has been going on for a long time. He recalls that Kopaja drivers and conductors bribed the police ever since he was driving the old Kopaja bus models with lower rooftops. That was in 1996.
“It has become the norm. It’s been a long time. The drivers for the number 19 Kopaja buses have been driving since the ‘90s,” he said.
So how much money exactly do the bus conductors leave for the police officers every time they make the illegal u-turn?
Sarno said his conductor used to leave Rp 10,000 for the police officers at the lookout post. He would then run over to the flower pot on the opposite side of the road and leave Rp 5,000 there for the Transportation Agency officer.
Warta Kota calculated that these officers would actually amass quite a fortune over time from the bribery.
Considering all 85 buses of the number 19 Kopaja fleet bribe the officers, then they would do so four times each day. In one day, the police officers would collect Rp 3.4 million, whereas the Transportation Agency officers would collect Rp 1.7 million from the flower pot.
In one year, that amounts to Rp 1 billion for the police officers and Rp 500 million for the Transportation Agency officers.
Not bad for money growing out of a flower pot.
