Jakarta – Twelve years after a law was passed forcing drivers to wear seat belts, police in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Wednesday began enforcing it.

"We are, starting today, enforcing the law that requires drivers and front-seat passengers to wear seat belts," said a national police spokesman, Zainuri Lubis.

bis said Jakarta drivers who refuse to belt up could face a fine of up to one million rupiah (115 dollars) or up to a month in jail.

Several other Indonesian cities will soon follow suit. Others, such as the second largest city of Surabaya in East Java, have already enforced the law.

The government in 1998 announced plans to enforce the 1992 law but drivers complained they could not afford to fit belts amid an economic crisis.

Despite Wednesday's belated crackdown, owners of cars without seat belts have been given until November 2005 to instal them.