Jakarta – They are everywhere, the men in helmets sitting on motorcycles at the side of the road; waiting and watching day in and day out.

Most Jakartans are familiar with the inexpensive motorcycle taxi known as the ojek but few fully understand the important role the drivers play or the risks they take on Jakarta's dangerous streets.

"They are everywhere. We can count on them as informal police agents," Jakarta Police representative First Insp. Baradun said on the sidelines of the second anniversary of the Jakarta-based Indonesian Motorized Ojek Association (Pomsi) on Monday. "They often share information related to crimes in the city with us," he said

In this crime-ridden city, the ubiquitous ojek drivers' information is very much needed. They are the police's best informants, reporting fires and street crime.

Pomsi executive John Kornelis said ojek drivers across the country not only take people where they need to go, "they also deal with street accidents and street crimes".

"In fact, the discovery of a terrorist hideout in Batu, Malang, East Java, where one of the Bali bombing masterminds, Azahari, was shot dead, was due to an ojek driver's tip to the police," John said.

Pomsi chairman Frans Andi Tumengkol called on the police to help ojek drivers in getting legal protection because, he said, the police needed their assistance to secure the community.

Frans said the question of "who will be responsible if ojek drivers are dealing with robbery and theft when they are doing their job" needed to be addressed.

"Ojek drivers also face the usual problems faced by any mass transportation operator, but we don't have any access to legal rights," John said. Ojek drivers used the event to call for legal recognition and protection.

Forty-six-year-old ojek driver Ujang said he expected the administration to provide legal recognition for the industry.

The Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) and the Jakarta Transportation Agency do not recognize motorcycle taxis as public transportation because ojeks do not have specific routes or safety standards for drivers and passengers.

If legally recognized, John said, ojek could become a professional and safe mass transportation service. "We are asking the authorities (for) direction to improve ourselves," he said.

According to Pomsi's latest data, there are more than 5 million ojek drivers in the city, although only 10,000 are Pomsi members.

Ojek became an alternative form of public transportation in the city when the local government banned becak (pedicabs) in 1994. The 1997 economic crisis swelled the ranks of ojek drivers, with many of the millions left unemployed turning to their motorcycles to make a living.

House of Representatives Commission V overseeing transportation member Roestanto Wahidi said the commission was considering making ojek an official form of public transportation under the next transportation law.

"We realize that ojek have the same function as other transportation models: serving the public. So they also need legal protection guaranteeing their position in the face of the law," said Roestanto, who also attended Monday's event.

He added that if ojek were to made legal, drivers would have to improve their safety standards and follow traffic regulations.