A sign of indifference?

A sign of indifference?

Probably nobody has ever calculated how many people it takes
to encircle Merdeka Square in front of the presidential palace --
better known as Monas Square in the common vernacular -- with a
human chain. For certain, thousands would be needed for that
objective, more than an average-sized demonstration could muster.
That was probably the reason why on Sept. 22 the Urban Poor
Consortium, a non-governmental organization (NGO) whose aim is to
elevate the living conditions of Jakarta's poor, failed to do
precisely that. The UPC managed to gather just enough people to
line one side of the one-square-kilometer park. The UPC, after
all, is not the kind of NGO that would pay people to go out onto
the streets to demonstrate -- nor, probably, would it have the
money to do so.

Of course, weekends are normally the time when hordes of
Jakartans make their habitual trek out of the city in search of
fresh air in the holiday resort areas to the west and south of
the city, where they disgorge their carbon gases and other
pollutants for the weekend. So that might explain the low level
of public interest.

Sunday, however, is also a day when Monas Square is filled
with people enjoying their day off, engaging in a variety of
sports or simply taking a stroll or picnicking in the park with
their families. This, after all, is what public parks are for.
But why didn't more people join Sunday's human fence movement at
Monas Square?

Unfortunately, however, this leaves us with a rather dismal
impression of public indifference to what is happening to and
around people in this city of more than 10 million. The plan to
encircle Monas Square with a chain of people was meant as a
signal of protest against the Jakarta city administration's
ongoing work of building a two-meter high iron fence around the
square. Not only Monas Square, other public parks have been used
for purposes other than as public open space and other open areas
have also been fenced in during the past months.

The fencing in of Monas Square not only further tarnishes
Jakarta's cityscape, it effectively deprives Jakarta's citizenry
of access to one of the city's largest and most popular public
spaces so far. And this in a city where free and open public
spaces are rapidly disappearing to make way for offices, shopping
malls and other commercial buildings.

The rather disturbing question that this raises is, do
Jakartans care? Sunday's Monas Square debacle comes close on the
heels of the reelection by the City Council of Governor Sutiyoso
-- a process that reeks of bribery and irregularity. Sure, there
were protest rallies during the election, but after Sutiyoso's
reelection became a fait accompli, Jakartans appear to have
resigned themselves to the reality that their voices are not
being heard by those very legislators who presumably are
representing them. Other examples can easily be cited of such
apparent indifference among Jakarta's citizenry. Yet,
illustrations of open support for those that are willing to stand
up for the public's rights can just as easily be found. Who, for
example, doesn't remember the masses rallying behind students
during the chaotic days when president Soeharto fell?

Of course, not all protest demonstrations we may come across
in Jakarta's streets these days deserve the public's support,
especially now that certain groups or organizations are said to
be willing to resort to paying "protesters" to swell their ranks.
All the same, genuine protests for the good of the public
certainly still do occur. Among these, as far as we can see, are
those that seek to come up with reasonable solutions to raise the
living standards of the masses of Indonesians who are still
living near or below the poverty line in hostile urban
surroundings. These are the protests that deserve our support
because disregarding such injustice and poverty would be
tantamount to leaving a time-bomb to explode in our children's
and grandchildren's faces.