For several years I have watched, with great interest, a few young men at East Jakarta's Cawang highway intersection.

As a regular commuter, on a comfortably air-conditioned intercity bus traveling the Merak-Kampung Rambutan route, I see them every time my bus stops at that intersection, allowing commuters to get on and off the bus.

I first observed a pattern three years ago when I started taking the bus to work in Cimanggis, Depok.

Before stopping, drivers would first make sure no police were around as it is illegal for buses to set down at the intersection.

A few hundred meters before the intersection the kenek (driver's assistant), standing by the back door, peeks out to check if there are any police cars following. He shouts an "all clear" to the other kenek, standing by the front door, who then quickly relays the information to the driver.

Sometimes, with amusement, we follow this spy game with sympathy for those passengers nervously crossing their fingers, hoping for an absence of police so they can get off at the intersection.

Otherwise, they have to continue their journey all the way to Kampung Rambutan terminal, which is much farther away.

Admittedly, we know this practice is against traffic laws. We want to see law being enforced, and we want to see law enforcers and the public respect and abide by the law.

On the other hand, we sometimes allow this little "sin" to go on. We condone it because we think we have no choice.

Cawang commuters are glad to be able to alight at the intersection because it cuts their travel times and costs compared to alighting at Pancoran, for example, which is the designated stop before Cawang.

The bus driver is also willing to make an effort to allow passengers to alight, illegally. No one gets hurt. Both sides are happy, and this is a kind of mutual understanding — an act of give and take.

Back to the few young men at the Cawang intersection. There we may find another form of "give and take", albeit not necessarily through mutual understanding. In this case, the taking is done forcibly, and the giving reluctantly.

About a year ago, no one was waiting for passengers who alighted at the intersection. Those who got off there would cross the road, jump over a steel barrier, bend over to get through a gap between two steel fences (someone had clearly widened the gap because it is wider there than in other places), and walk down the highway ramp to reach the other road underneath.

Recently, however, such commuters have been met with two or more "helpers" who wait around behind the steel fences.

As they see the bus approach, they get up to welcome commuters.

I see them take money from commuters. Initially they even erected a small cardboard sign on the fence, which read "Rp 1,000".

The sign was removed within a few days, but they went on taking money for "helping" commuters through the gap.

Help? Commuters could do it themselves and used to do so without any help!

What's more, the intersection is not their property! Who gave them the job?

I also notice with amusement, the bemused look of some commuters when they are met by these people and are "helped". It seems some of them hand over their money with bewilderment.

Other commuters perhaps already know why they are there, and prepare money beforehand.

While illegal, the practice continues uninterrupted, at least, until the day I wrote this.

Every day, the guys behind the fence forcibly demand and commuters reluctantly give. To me, the whole thing is like a game in no-man's land.

People authorize themselves to do this "job" and apply their own rules, but who shall put this to and end if both the taker and the giver are happy? The law enforcers, from all levels and departments, need to work, and work harder. The laws are there, it's just that its enforcers are sometimes invisible.