The strike Monday was called by the Land Transportation Owners' Organization over a 10 percent tax levied on the cost of transporting goods by trucks around the country.

The tax has been imposed since 2003, but the group only decided to strike now after lobbying attempts were unsuccessful, said Murphy Hutagalung, the group's head. "The tax has burdened owners of transportation businesses. Some have even gone bankrupt."

A police officer at Jakarta's Tanjung Priok Port said hundreds of trucks were outside the port, refusing to enter.

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The strike call was also heeded in Medan on Sumatra island and two other ports on Java. "Foreign shipping firms are really angry, but we cannot do anything," said Subagjho, head of Tanjung Perak port in Surabaya. "Everything is paralyzed."

Truck owners frequently complain their drivers have to pay scores of illegal levies to police and other government officials when crossing the country.

Transportation Minister Hata Rajasa said only that he "regretted the strike," but the Antara news agency quoted Finance Minister Sri Mulyani as saying the government intended to exempt trucking firms from the tax. ASSOCIATED PRESS