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Revoking Bus Company Licenses Not Best Solution to Save Lives: Minister
Tri Listiyarini & Amir Tejo | February 14, 2012

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blightyboy
7:17pm Feb 14, 2012

A minister back peddling again.

The problem is that rules are not implemented and the police are only interested in bribes not safety or human life.

As with almost every problem in Indonesia, this is the result of corruption.

herbert.wippel
3:14pm Feb 14, 2012

why not revoke the license if the buses are lousy maintained and the drivers are speeding reckless. If the owner looses his license and his fleet he will instruct his drivers properly. If the buses are not maintained simply charge the owner also with negligence (5 years in prison)

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Despite a barrage of calls for Indonesian bus companies involved in deadly accidents to have their licenses revoked, Transportation Minister E.E. Mangindaan said he would not rush the decision.

The potential ripple effects of shutting down a transportation company that employs many people, the minister said, would have to be carefully considered.

“I am prepared to close [bus companies]. But it has a wide social impact,” he said in Surabaya on Monday.

Mangindaan cited Sumber Kencono, a bus company that has been prone to accidents, as an example.

He said that if the ministry revoked the license of the company, which operates around 300 buses, it would have a major impact on its drivers, other employees and their families. An idle fleet would leave passengers stranded with fewer affordable transportation options, he added.

“We want to open job opportunities and not close them,” Mangindaan said.

He argued that the most logical way to prevent accidents was to evaluate whether public transportation companies were in compliance with regulations.

Vehicles are expected to undergo road worthiness tests, companies must be equipped with garages, and most importantly, drivers should be evaluated regularly.

“If they violate those regulations, we have prepared a sanction by slashing the size of the fleet by up to 30 percent,” Mangindaan said. “And we have already imposed this on Sumber Kencono.”

Meanwhile, bus company Karunia Bakti insisted that its bus which crashed and killed 14 people in Cisarua, Bogor, on Saturday was in good condition when it departed.

Karunia Bakti president director Wahyo Sunaryo insisted the company’s drivers had technical and operational knowledge, as all were required to undergo three months of training before hitting the road.

“It is true that supervision in the field is not yet optimum, because we have to admit there are many problems in the field,” he said.

“But one thing is for certain, that our bus was in good condition. So if you hear otherwise, that needs to be further examined.”

Wahyu said the company would leave the case in the hands of the law and respect the findings of the authorities regarding culpability. Karunia Bakti, he said, would comply if the government decided to temporarily freeze its license.

“Only the Transportation Ministry and the National Committee for Transportation Safety (KNKT) have the authority to say so,” he said at the ministry’s office, adding that the “KNKT says it needs three months” to make a decision.

Wahyu said that the company had given all the families of the dead victims Rp 5 million ($560) in compensation. The money was distributed in Garut and witnessed by the local administration.

Djoko Sulaksono, a spokesman for the ministry’s Directorate General of Land Transportation, said it had received a report from Karunia Bakti and would evaluate the accident before issuing a decision on whether to temporarily freeze its license.