Of signs, ads and dirty flags<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): What do you do while sitting in one of those
\nundoable traffic knots that are the rule rather than the
\nexception on Jakarta's roads?<\/p>\n
Getting irritable won't make your vehicle go faster, and may
\nwell lead to a premature heart attack or stroke. Especially if
\nyou, unlike me, have to do the driving yourself.<\/p>\n
Why don't I drive? Mainly because I can't be bothered with
\ngetting stressed out by driving. Much better to get stressed out
\nat the office where you can vent your spleen on some lower
\nranking employee.<\/p>\n
So I move around in expensive cabs. But, you know, I've begun
\nto realize that it does have some positive aspects after all.
\nWith someone else doing the driving, there are a lot of things
\nthat come to your attention. Even things that you see every day,
\ntake on a significance you've never thought about.<\/p>\n
Take signs and ads, for instance. My trip to work takes me
\npartly through the Jl. Diponegoro and Jl. Imam Bonjol area. Right
\nby the entrance to Taman Suropati, just in front of the American
\nambassador's residence, there's a sign which says that \"you are
\nentering a zone of orderly traffic.\"<\/p>\n
I've seen hundreds of times, but it only recently struck me
\nthat there's no similar sign anywhere else in the neighborhood.
\nIt made me wonder if the residence of our esteemed Pak Try
\nSutrisno, on Jl. Madiun and diagonally across from H.E., is
\nlocated in a \"zone of disorderly traffic.\"<\/p>\n
Then there are the ads. How would you like to sail away in (or
\nmaybe \"on\") a housing estate? And maybe, in the process take
\nhefty swigs of a concoction that's guaranteed to restore your
\nfeeble stamina?<\/p>\n
Take the real estate bit, for instance. If the Japanese can
\nconstruct a floating airport, couldn't a whole real estate
\nproject be far away? Possibly, though sea-sick prone humans and
\ngolf freaks would probably stay away from greens that roll up and
\ndown all the time.<\/p>\n
As for the drinks, well, try imagining a salesman standing on
\na box at Monas bellowing: \"Are you tired of your health being in
\nconstant mint condition? Have you had enough of your stamina
\nforever roaring and rarin'to go? Then take this drink, ladies and
\ngentlemen! I guarantee you'll be fragile in five seconds flat!\"
\nPossible, but a bit shaky. On the other hand, the makers wouldn't
\nsell the (imported) stuff if they hadn't done a bit of market
\nresearch and discovered that there really are people who are
\nbored with glowing health all the time.<\/p>\n
Here's what the actual signs say. The one about the housing
\nestate is in English and has \"Real Estate For Sail\" painted on a
\nballoon floating near the Jakarta Convention Center. The drink ad
\nis in Indonesian and it shouts at you from billboards, saying
\n\"Memulihkan Stamina Yang Loyo\" or \"Restore Weak Stamina.\" In any
\nlanguage it couldn't mean anything else but that you'll be
\nblessed with rotten stamina.<\/p>\n
But what keeps me on tenterhooks are the flags. Many of them
\nare unspeakably dirty and some of them even have holes in them,
\nlike the ones flapping in front of the PEPABRI office, the Scout
\nMovement office and the rows of them on Jl. Rasuna Said. The one
\ngracing Setiabudi Building could do with a couple of Whirlpool
\ncycles, and so could those in front of Plaza 89, the Ministry of
\nSocial Affairs office, the Ministry of Health and Hotel
\nIndonesia. The red and white have turned into something like dark
\npink or orange-red and dirty yellow or light gray.<\/p>\n
But it isn't only the national flags that are begging for a
\nbath. Some foreign ones fare no better. The Yugoslavian flag
\nlooks as if it has never been taken down and the Iranian flag
\nacross the street is beginning to look like it's headed in the
\nsame direction. There is the row of filthy flags in front of Bina
\nMulia Building from some Scandinavian countries. What keeps me
\nawake each morning is whether there'll be sinners who have mended
\ntheir ways and tossed their flags in the washing machine or to
\nthe pembantu in charge of laundering.<\/p>\n
Of course there are clean ones too, Pak Try, may presumably
\nlive in a zone of disorderly traffic, but his flag is squeaky
\nclean, as are the ones in front of the Belgian embassy and the
\nresidence of the Dutch ambassador.<\/p>\n
Should a directive be issued regarding clean flags? It may not
\nbe a bad idea. I'm sure there are thousands and thousands of
\nother ones in the country that could do with a good wash. Just
\nthink of the boost it would be for the detergent industry.<\/p>\n
-- Jak Jaunt<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/of-signs-ads-and-dirty-flags-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }