UNS — The Faculty of Law (FH) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta held an international webinar on “Developing Eco Friendly and Sustainable Transportation”, Saturday (21/11/2020) afternoon through Zoom Cloud Meeting. The webinar was held to discuss the government’s effort, especially through PT. Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) in developing environmentally friendly and sustainable transportation to reduce the impact of global warming.
FH UNS specifically invited the President Director of PT. KAI, Didiek Hartantyo, as the keynote speaker. FH UNS also invited several international speakers such as Assoc. Prof. Mohd Rizal Palil (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia), Pungky Hendra Wijaya (FH Curtin University, Australia), and Dr. Hillarie Tegnan (Sorbonne Universite, France).
As the keynote speaker, Didiek Hartantyo, shared the vision of PT. KAI as the provider of mass transportation service. He stated that PT. KAI is determined to reduce the impact of global warming in Indonesia through the provision of comfortable and environmentally friendly mass transportation. This intention is established because PT. KAI wants to be the solution for the best transportation ecosystem in Indonesia. As a State-Owned Enterprise that provides mass transportation, Didiek Hartantyo mentioned that the presence of the railway in the development of environmentally friendly and sustainable transportation is rather appropriate. This is because the railway has a larger carrying capacity for a trip compared to other mass transportation. In Jabodetabek for example, Didiek Hartantyo stated that PT. KAI can carry 1.1 million people every day. “Railway is a mass transportation that can carry many people and goods; thus, it can reduce pollution created through a large number of vehicles,” he stated.
In front of 260 webinar participants, Didiek Hartantyo also shared PT. KAI plans in the future such as electric rail train (Kereta Rel Listrik – KRL) Yogyakarta-Solo which is targeted to operate on January 2021 to replace local Prambanan Ekspres (Prameks) railway and KRL Yogyakarta-Klaten.
One of the international speakers, Assoc. Prof. Mohd Rizal Palil, in his material titled “Transportation-Related Taxes in Malaysia Leading to Success”, stated that Malaysia government provides special attention for the development of environmentally friendly and sustainable transportation. This is implemented by providing an incentive of free taxes for the purchase of bus made by Malaysian manufacturer, including a bus with AC. This policy will be extended for two years from 1 January 2021 until 31 December 2022. Malaysia government also implemented a new policy in the form of free tariff for tourist who visited tourism destination. Free tariff is implemented on environmental preservation and conservation projects, including forests, islands, beaches, and national parks. In the future, free tariff policy will be implemented to preservation and conservation project of historical buildings designated by the Department of State Heritage according to the National Heritage Act 2005.
“To encourage the involvement of private sector in the implementation of corporate social responsibility, tax reduction is proposed based on paragraph 34(6)(h) ITA 1967,” Assoc. Prof. Mohd Rizal Palil explained. He added that free tariff also applies for air transportation, both in the economy and business class. Economy class passengers who fly from Malaysia to other ASEAN countries will be charged with RM 8 tax, while passengers flying to other countries outside ASEAN will be charged with RM 20 departure fee for economy class and RM 15 for business class. Humas UNS
Reporter: Yefta Christopherus AS
Editor: Dwi Hastuti