Owners overlook vehicle roadworthiness test

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 11/06/2008 10:29 AM  

A middle-aged man holding a green A4 envelope in his hand was about to enter one of the city's vehicle testing centers when four men ran up to him and started talking at him. 

"Sir, want to have a KIR (vehicle roadworthiness test), sir?" they kept asking, until the man finally handed his envelope to one of them. 

This scene is quite a common one at any of Jakarta's five vehicle testing centers, located in Ujung Menteng and Cakung, East Jakarta, as many people prefer to pay a middleman for their vehicle roadworthiness test. 

The test, aimed to measure the roadworthiness of public vehicles, is based on eight indicators, including the condition of the tires, lamps, brakes, engine and windows and level of exhaust emissions. 

"Many drivers or vehicle owners are not able to do all tests. That's why they need us," a middleman at the Cakung testing center told The Jakarta Post last week. 

The man, eating lunch with two friends, said there were dozens of scalpers or middlemen, known locally as calo, operating around the building everyday. He said they could be recognized as they stood out among the blue-uniformed officers. 

Rosmayani, owner of three public minivans, agreed help from a middleman was useful for her and other vehicle owners. 

"I paid a middleman Rp 240,000 (US$24) to help me because my documents were incomplete," said Rosmayani, who brought one of her minivans to the center. 

According to the 1999 city bylaw on fees and taxes, an owner of a small vehicle such as a taxi or public minivan has to pay about Rp 100,000 for the test and administrative fees. Owners of larger vehicles, such as the air-conditioned buses Mayasari Bakti or Steady Safe, are charged about Rp 200,000 each. 

All public vehicles must undergo the test every six months, but thousands of old and dilapidated public vehicles are still in operation and are seen frequently across the city. 

At the Pulo Gadung testing center, a Kopaja minibus driver who was waiting for his roadworthiness certificate said he had spent more than Rp 1 million to pay a middleman to have his old bus pass the test. 

"Well, I just need to wait here because the middleman is taking care of everything," he said. He explained that the middleman would share the money with the officers responsible for all the test procedures. 

About 10 minutes later he drove his old bus out of the center, black smoke spewing from its exhaust pipe. 

Another bus driver was in one corner of the center's parking lot busily swapping the tires on his bus with new ones. 

"It has become common practice. Everyone is busy fixing up their vehicle temporarily before taking the test," said Ilyas, a bus driver who has been visiting the testing center regularly since 1979. He said the officers and middlemen were friends. 

"Just pay first, then you can nap while they get your roadworthiness certificate ready," he said, watching an officer in a blue uniform having lunch with a middleman nearby. 

Data from the city's traffic police for 2003-2007 show that Kopaja vehicles were involved in 379 accidents in that period, while Metromini minibuses were involved in 730 accidents. Another 624 accidents involved public minivans. 

Recently, the Pulo Gadung testing center released data stating that 6,609 public buses are in operation despite having not renewed their roadworthiness certificates. 

But according to the head of the Jakarta chapter of the Land Transportation Owners organization (Organda), Herry Rotty, many buses are not in operation because of the fuel price rise. 

"The number of buses (on the road) has fallen to 70 percent," he said Thursday. 

Early this year, the organization claimed there were about 60,000 public transportation vehicles in Jakarta, including 4,200 large buses, 4,800 minibuses, 13,000 minivans, 23,300 taxis and 15,000 bajaj (three-wheeled vehicles). 

One of the middlemen at the Pulo Gadung testing center agreed that fewer vehicles had been coming in for the roadworthiness test since the fuel price rise in the middle of the year. 

Nevertheless, the "unseen" practice continues. 

On another corner, a Metromini minibus driver received stamped documents and payment receipts from an officer who then put a pair of small metal plates on the bus's body, as proof it had been checked by the authority. 

After handing Rp 5,000 to the officer, the driver told his three assistants to start pushing the bus. It turned out that this bus, which had just passed its test, had a flat battery and could not be started. (hwa)

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Tech failures cause half RI's accidents

Three airlines suspected of losing engine cap on strip

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Soekarno-Hatta international airport management said the engine cap that fell on its runway last Tuesday might belong to one of three airline companies, but none had reported a missing part.

Head of the airport administration bureau Herry Bakti said the cap belonged to one of three McDouglas MD-90 airplanes currently being operated by Batavia Air, Lion Air and Mandala.

"We can't confirm which of the three companies has the engine cap," Herry said.

"We will summon them on Friday for further questioning."

A watchtower officer found the three-meter ring-exhaust engine cap on the side of the runway near the international departure terminal Tuesday morning.

Various media reports on Thursday said the cap belonged to Lion Air. On Tuesday morning Lion had an airplane registered as PK-LIL-625 with 100 people traveling from Jakarta to Balikpapan under flight number of 766.

No airline had confirmed any losses on Wednesday.

Two weeks ago, parts of a Batavia Air craft landed in Gempol Sari village in Tangerang regency.

That airplane was scheduled to fly to Pontianak but was delayed in the air for hours before it landed at the international airport.

Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal said these kinds of incidents were serious and said he had instructed the National Committee for Air Transportation safety (KNKT) to investigate both matters further.

"A flying airplane cannot lose parts of (its) craft, especially (an) engine cap, because it would expose wind ... and cause problems with the engine," he told Antara.

Jusman said his office would impose a safety management system next year to avoid further incidents.

The new system, he said, would require airline companies to report any incidents or findings during their operations.

Chunk of jetliner wing found on Indonesian runway

The Jakarta Post

JAKARTA (AP): Workers found a piece of a wing from a passenger jet on the runway at Indonesia's main airport and investigators are trying to determine which plane it fell from, officials said Wednesday.

The 10-foot (3-meter) piece of wing was found Tuesday at Jakarta's Sukarno-Hatta international airport, said Yurlis Hasibuan, a senior air transportation official.

"It has been identified as a side engine cover, but we do not yet know which plane it came from," he said.

The wing piece was found on a runway used by planes on domestic flights as well as some cargo planes flying internationally, he said.

Last month, a similar-sized piece of wing fell from a jetliner minutes after it took off from the same airport.

The Boeing 737, which was operated by a local airline, landed safely but the incident added to safety concerns about commercial aviation in Indonesia.

The country suffered a series of accidents earlier this year that killed more than 120 people, leading the European Union to ban all the country's airlines from landing there.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration downgraded the nation's rating to its lowest category.

Experts say the industry is plagued by poor maintenance, rule-bending and a shortage of trained professionals.

Transportation safety commission investigating Malaysian plane crash in Belinyu

Belinyu, Bangka (ANTARA News) - Military (TNI) Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal Herman Prayitno said the Transportation Safety National Commission will mount a probe into the crash of a Malaysian aircraft in Belinyu, Bangka, on Friday.

"The investigation team of the Transportation Safety National Commission will soon go out into the field to find the cause of the crash of the Cessna trainer," he said in Tanjungpandan, Belitung, Friday night.

The Air Force Chief of Staff along with a number of Indonesian high-ranking military officers, is in Belitung to attend a military demonstration on Saturday involving a number of Indonesian Air Force combat planes, and will also be attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The air force chief of staff`s statement also eliminated speculations saying that the presence of the Malaysian aircraft was related to the show of power of the Indonesian air force combat planes in Belitung, a very strategic island directly facing Indonesia`s neighboring countries.

The Air Force Chief believed that the Transportation Safety National Commission will find the exact cause of the accident.

In the meantime, during a get-together of a number of government officials at the residence of the Belitung regency head, the air force chief said he had already received a report from Bangka Belitung (Babel) Police Chief Brig Gen Imam Sudjarwo saying that the Malaysian trainer crashed because it ran out of fuel.

In the meantime, another reliable source said that the Malaysian trainer was found upside down in the coast of Pesaren, Belinyu, Bangka, on Friday afternoon, but its pilot Rajib (23) and co-pilot M Nuraiman (25) survived the crash.

According to the source, the ill-fated small plane had engine trouble and went down in the coast of Pasaren, Belinyu, some 75 kilometers from Pangkalpinang.

The pilot and co-pilot were until Friday at 11.30 p.m West Indonesia Time still being questioned the Babel police headquarters.

The small plane, owned by EI.Admal, took off from Malaysia on a flight to Batam - Pangkalpinang - Pontianak - Kucing - Bengkulu, but crashed at 10.30 a.m when over Belinyu apparently due to engine trouble.

Tech failures cause half RI's accidents

Alfian, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Half of Indonesia's transport accidents are caused by technical failures, a newly installed professor in engine construction and energy conversion said Wednesday.

Gimbal Dolok Saribu was speaking at ceremony to see him become the new professor at the faculty of engineering and science at the National University in Jakarta.

He said technical accidents were "transportation mishaps caused by material damage".

"These can be very dangerous when they happen at dynamic or movable parts of a vehicle especially when it is moving fast," Gimbal said.

Technical accidents were caused by mistakes in design, poor material selection and material fatigue, he said.

In order to reduce air fares, it was common among airlines to keep using old and exhausted spare parts rather than replacing them with new ones, Gimbal said.

Similar practices occurred across the land and sea transportation sector.

"But the authorities are not aware of such practices.

"And even if they do know, the officials can easily be bought (off)."

Gimbal said there were two other types of accidents, including procedural and systematic.

A procedural accident occurred when a poor decision or violation of procedures was made. A systematic accident was defined as a smaller accident likely to cause a larger one.

The sources of systemic accidents were difficult to trace, Gimbal said, because they generally involved the operation of sophisticated technology.

Transportation facilities including highways and railway should be upgraded, but above all, the competence of human resources need to be improved, he said.

Also installed as professors on Wednesday were Ibrahim Abdullah in political science, Jeane Neltje Saly in law and Lijan Poltak Sinambela in public administration.