Sutiyoso: A nightmare to 'becak' drivers<\/p>\n
By Ida Indawati Khouw<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): For thousands of becak (pedicab) drivers,
\nGovernor Sutiyoso may be the man they hate most on the face of
\nthe earth. For good reason.<\/p>\n
His verbal promise on June 24 to welcome pedicabs back onto
\nthe capital's streets was like fresh water in the Sahara desert
\nfor the poor men and their families.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed just six days later
\nwhen the same person, Sutiyoso, backtracked on his statement and
\ninsisted that the capital has no space for becak.<\/p>\n
Sutiyoso, a two-star military general and former Jakarta
\nMilitary Commander, might have no conception of the pains of the
\npedicab drivers who struggled to reach Jakarta on the strength of
\nhis word.<\/p>\n
He might have also been unaware of the fact that most of the
\ndrivers have to sleep in their pedicabs because they have no
\nfamily and no places to stay in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
According to Jida from Pemalang in Central Java, he borrowed
\nRp 50,000 from his neighbors four days after Sutiyoso extended
\nhis \"kindhearted\" invitation.<\/p>\n
The 50 year old man packed some of his clothes, hugged his
\nwife and three children, then lifted his becak up onto the
\nwaiting truck.<\/p>\n
Happy at the prospect of earning money in Jakarta, Jida did
\nnot mind spending half of the money he borrowed to pay for the
\ntruck to drive him and his pedicab to Jakarta, 400 kilometers to
\nthe west.<\/p>\n
The strong wind on the back of the truck and the dull sound
\nfrom his hungry stomach helped him to forget his wife's worries.<\/p>\n
After a nine hours journey, Jida finally arrived in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
He felt proud of himself after a few days here because he
\ncould earn Rp 15,000 a day and was already beginning to ease his
\nfamily's financial problems.<\/p>\n
If he was to earn Rp 5,000 in a day in Pemalang he would
\nconsider it his luckiest day of the year.<\/p>\n
Jida then wrote a letter to his family telling them that their
\nlife would be better from now on.<\/p>\n
But his happiness did not last long after his colleagues told
\nhim that the governor had revoked his own decision and the city
\nwould be cleansed of pedicabs by the end of this month.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know how to tell my wife that Governor Sutiyoso has
\nchanged his mind and we are forbidden to operate here.<\/p>\n
\"What will she say. I have repeatedly told her that our life
\nwould be better if I brought my becak here,\" Jida told The
\nJakarta Post on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Mobile home<\/p>\n
He also doubted whether he could repay his debt to his
\nneighbor.<\/p>\n
Like some of his fellow drivers, Jida has made his pedicab his
\nhome in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Thanks to a plastic shield on the pedicab, Jida can shield
\nhimself from rain and cold weather at night.<\/p>\n
Many other drivers tell similar stories.<\/p>\n
Carmo, 47, said that he had forced a truck driver to transport
\nhim to Jakarta for Rp 25,000.<\/p>\n
\"My wife supported my decision because I could no longer work
\nas a farmer in my hometown. Tractors and other machines now do
\nthe job I used to get paid for,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Carmo said he decided to bring his becak here after Sutiyoso's
\nannouncement because his family needed money to pay an Rp 75,000
\ndebt to their neighbors, from whom they had borrowed essential
\nfood.<\/p>\n
He said he had to borrow the food after being unemployed for
\ntwo months. His wife is only a casual worker at a brick factory
\nin Pemalang and her income was not enough to support the whole
\nfamily.<\/p>\n
He borrowed another Rp 75,000 to finance his trip to Jakarta.<\/p>\n
In an attempt to save money to pay back the debt, Carmo has
\nstruggled to economize on his spending in the capital.<\/p>\n
He foregoes breakfast and makes do with just a cup of tea in
\nthe morning.<\/p>\n
\"It's no problem for me not to have three meals a day like
\nother people. I sometimes had to do the same thing in my hometown
\nduring hard times,\" said Carmo, who is plying his pedicab in the
\nJohar Baru area of Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
In the first few days here he managed to save at least Rp
\n10,000 per day after spending Rp 3,000 on lunch and dinner.<\/p>\n
But now he knows that his brighter days are nearing an end.<\/p>\n
Like many others, Kasuana, 33, from Indramayu in West Java,
\nalso had to spend hours traveling to Jakarta with 12 other
\npedicab drivers \"to start a new life\".<\/p>\n
Each of them had to pay Rp 28,000 for the trip.<\/p>\n
\"I now have about Rp 80,000 in my pocket, but I need about Rp
\n50,000 to return home and the rest will go to my family,\" Kasuana
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Kasuana, who joined Thursday's protest at Sutiyoso's office,
\nstill hopes that the governor will change his mind once again
\nbefore he and his fellow drivers head back home.<\/p>\n
\"We just want to work in narrow streets,\" he said.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sutiyoso-a-nightmare-to-becak-drivers-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }