Jakarta – The Indonesian Ombudsman revealed on Thursday that some Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers had asked for illegal levies from street vendors in six areas in the city in return for permission to conduct their business activities.
From the investigation conducted by the Ombudsman, it was revealed that Satpol PP officers had accepted Rp 500,000 (US$36.90) to Rp 8 million per month from the vendors.
The Ombudsman commissioner, Adrianus Meliala, said the officers received the money from gangs who backed the street vendors.
In Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, for instance, a gang member admitted to cultivating close relationships with Satpol PP officers so that the street vendors he backed were not raided.
"We also found that there were Satpol PP officers who received the levies at the district office," Adrianus said as quoted by kompas.com.
The practice of paying illegal levies was also found to have occurred in the area near Mal Ambassador in Setiabudi, Central Jakarta, where money was distributed to the subdistrict and district office through the neighborhood head. (cal)