Jakarta. The Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI) is urging the government to delay the mandate for all vehicles to have third-party liability insurance, arguing that the policy is not urgent and would primarily benefit the industry.

Many have voiced their concerns after the Financial Services Authority (OJK) announced they would impose mandatory vehicle insurance starting next year. YLKI is among those who disagree with the plan.

“It is best to just postpone or get rid of this mandatory third-party liability insurance,” YLKI’s head Tulus Abadi said on Tuesday.

According to Tulus, the government should pay attention to more urgent matters such as motor vehicle tax and traffic safety. He added: “Just take care of the existing problems that we have on the ground first.” 

The third-party liability insurance mandate would also only be a boon to businesses rather than protecting the consumers.

“Empirically, the third-party liability insurance formula is not as beneficial to the people compared to the benefits that the insurance businesses will enjoy once this policy is in effect,” Tulus stated. 

But if the government decides to proceed with the plan, YLKI is hoping that they will consider conducting trial runs first on vehicles with four-wheelers before the motorbikes. 

“Because this is a new policy, it is set to bring problems. It is best to implement it in groups. For instance, start with cars but it should not be mandatory at first. If everything goes well, the government can make insurance mandatory for cars. After that, the government can take a look whether they can impose similar policies on two-wheelers,” Tulus said.