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.