Capital returns to normal as threat of protests ends

Capital returns to normal as threat of protests ends

JAKARTA (JP): The hustle and bustle of everyday life returned
to the city on Monday as the tension of the recently completed
21-day General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly
abated.

The usual traffic jams and crowded public buses of the capital
made a reappearance as residents once again felt it safe to
venture from their homes.

An elderly resident of Bidaracina subdistrict in Depok,
Wirahsati, took the opportunity to visit her sick grandson in the
Gondangdia area of Central Jakarta. She said she was confident
there would not be clashes or demonstrations in the city after
the elections of President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President
Megawati Soekarnoputri last week.

"I heard about his sickness a week ago but I didn't have the
courage to see my two-year-old grandson, fearing that I would be
trapped in the clashes," said the 64-year-old woman.

Traffic was backed up in the central business district along
Jl. M.H. Thamrin, Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Gatot Subroto. Traffic
congestion also was seen along Jl. Pos Kota in West Jakarta and
Jl. Hayam Wuruk and Jl. Gajah Mada in Central Jakarta.

"Traffic jams everywhere show that the city is back to
normal," said the head of the Jakarta History Museum in West
Jakarta, Tinia Budiati.

Police officer Sgt. Paulus Prihatin said the number of cars
and motorcycles on the city's main thoroughfares on Monday had
risen.

"The number of vehicles here is going up, but there are still
fewer than before the series of clashes and demonstrations last
year," said Paulus, who was directing traffic at the Hotel
Indonesia traffic circle on Monday.

Ridwan, 24, a street sweeper in the area around the Hotel
Indonesia traffic circle, said he was pleased not to find
mountains of garbage on the street, as was the case during the
Assembly's General Session.

"Protesters often threw garbage wherever they wanted. Their
actions made me have to work hard," he said.

Ridwan, an employee of the City Sanitation Agency, works from
4 p.m to 8 p.m each day, earning Rp 4,300 per day.

Bus conductor S. Antonius said he was happy to see an end to
the protests.

"We often had to turn around because of the student protests.
It cost me a lot because we lost both passengers and fuel,"
Antonius, whose bus plies the Blok M-Cimone route and passes the
Semanggi cloverleaf, a spot of frequent protests.

However, not everybody in the capital is pleased with the
peace which seems to have fallen on the city.

"My business drops compared to during the General Session,"
said Syarifuddin, 16, a newspaper seller on Jl. Thamrin.

He said he sold 50 copies of various newspapers each day
during the session, but now was only able to sell five copies per
day.

Iwan, an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver in Slipi, West Jakarta,
said: "I lost my business because people now prefer to ride on
buses rather than my ojek." (ind/asa)