Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Life is hard for those who operate Jakarta's public transportation. Besides the heavy traffic, the increasing number of private vehicles on the road and the TransJakarta busway, they also have to deal with street-side extortion.

"In certain areas we frequently pass people who ask for money from every mikrolet driver that passes by. Those are areas thugs claim as their own," Parmo, a mikrolet public minivan driver serving the Rawajati-Pasar Minggu line in South Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post.

Parmo, who has worked as a driver for various kinds of public transportation over 15 years, said one of the most popular areas for thugs in South Jakarta was Pondok Labu, where many unemployed and drunk people congregate, especially on Saturday nights.

"When they're drunk they start extorting money from drivers who pass through the area. They used to ask for Rp 5,000 [55 US cents] every time I passed their 'territory'," Parmo said.

He said most drivers just give the thugs the money from their meager daily income of Rp 50,000 in the hopes there won't be any trouble.

"I just want to work in peace. As long as that money keeps them quiet, I just give it to them." Another place known for rampant extortion was the Blok M bus terminal, he said.

The drivers are left to their own devices in battling these forms of coercion, as the authorities don't monitor the drivers and the pressures they face every day. Their income is also decreasing due to the rapid increase of private vehicles and the operation of TransJakarta buses.

Jakarta is now home to 8 million motorcycles and 3 million cars. The cheap price of vehicles and easy credit have contributed to the excess number of vehicles, which, in the end, affects the business of public transportation.

Another driver, Syarifuddin, said drivers could not avoid street-side extortion because those in authority did nothing. "I think the police back them up," he said, adding that the Tanah Abang business district in Central Jakarta was a notorious spot for money demands.

Syarifuddin, who drives a mikrolet plying Tanah Abang and Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, said he once spoke to the thugs, who said each of them paid the police Rp 15,000 a day in order to "keep the police silent".

"Even though we have protested, [the police] don't take any action," he said, adding that the extortion would only stop if there was a raid by the Jakarta Police. "But, it will only stop them for one or two days."

Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Baharudin Jafar said, "if such a thing occurs the victim should file a report with the police, because the police only act based on reports."

But, most people are reluctant to report such activities because they believe it would cost them more than what they spent giving money to the thugs on the side of the road.