Sutiyoso's challenge<\/p>\n
How fares Jakarta's monorail system? A good question to
\nponder, but not an easy one to answer. No, indeed. Not even
\nJakarta's city fathers seem to have an answer that would satisfy
\nthe city's residents who have for years been yearning for a safe,
\ncomfortable and yet affordable public transportation system to go
\nto work, or school, or to any of the steadily proliferating
\nshopping malls, as the case may be.<\/p>\n
For that matter, how fares the planned extension of the busway
\nsystem now that the existing Blok M-Kota route has passed the
\nacid test of public acceptance? It has been a long time since any
\nnews has been heard about this new extension that is supposed to
\nrun from the eastern part of the city to the west --
\ncomplementing the current north-south route. For weeks now, the
\nfoundations of the first concrete piles that were driven into the
\nground with so much pomp and ceremony a while ago, are standing
\ndeserted along Jl. Asia-Afrika in Senayan.<\/p>\n
It seems that over the past several decades, the capital city
\nhas not managed to grow out of its classic problems, which stem
\nfrom the inescapable pressures of overpopulation. It seems that
\nthe same problems that troubled governor Ali Sadikin in the late
\n1960s and early 1970s are still present under the city's current
\ngovernor, Sutiyoso -- but have increased in scope and intensity.<\/p>\n
Of course, Jakarta today is not the Jakarta of the 1970s, and
\nGovernor Sutiyoso is not Ali Sadikin. Still, a comparison between
\nthe two does not seem unfair since both have faced the same
\nchallenges and both have been dogged by the same, or similar,
\ncontroversies.<\/p>\n
To be sure, Jakarta has never been free of problems. Even in
\nthe 18th century, when it was a small walled Dutch colonial
\nsettlement named Batavia, the city was prone to regular floods
\nand diseases -- which was the reason for its growth toward the
\nhealthier south, leading to the establishment of the elite
\nresidential areas of Menteng and Kebayoran Baru. Bad luck that
\nJakarta's big city allure, its apparent wealth and relatively
\nhigh living standards, have worked like a magnet for the city,
\ndrawing people from elsewhere in the country toward it. The
\ninflux of huge numbers of migrants is Jakarta's most serious
\nproblem.<\/p>\n
In the 1970s, governor Ali Sadikin sought to stem the tide by
\ndeclaring the city closed to new settlers. The policy failed, not
\nso much because of a lack of determination on the part of Ali
\nSadikin, but because of a lack of cooperation from governors and
\nadministrators in areas and provinces outside Jakarta. After all,
\nhow could he prevent citizens coming from other parts of the
\ncountry from trying to improve their welfare in the nation's
\ncapital?<\/p>\n
But if declaring Jakarta a closed city is not possible, what
\nthen can be done to prevent the quality of life from sliding
\nfurther downhill? Simplistic as it may sound, a good part of the
\nanswer lies in better management of the city's traffic. Only a
\nfew years or even months ago, traffic along several of Jakarta's
\nmain streets and thoroughfares was still manageable, at least on
\ncertain hours or days.<\/p>\n
At present, the same cannot be said of the city's traffic.
\nHuge traffic jams clogging the city's toll roads are a daily
\nsight during the morning and evening hours. Not only are office
\nand other workers inconvenienced, the economic costs involved are
\nhuge. Many experts agree with Governor Sutiyoso that unless the
\nrate of increase in the number of cars and other vehicles is
\nstopped or lowered, it will not take long before the Indonesian
\ncapital city truly becomes unlivable -- which it already is, in
\nthe opinion of many.<\/p>\n
In all this, however, the big question is, what are the
\nchances that Governor Sutiyoso can solve this problem?
\nAdmittedly, this is a question that is hard to answer, not only
\nfor the public at large, but even for the governor and the city
\nofficials around him. However, if he can achieve this feat, he
\nwill no doubt go down in history as one of Jakarta's most
\neffective governors -- as effective, perhaps, as his forerunner,
\nAli Sadikin.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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