Crash prompts renaming of train
Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
The Javanese belief that a name is linked to bad or good luck still holds very true for many Indonesian bureaucrats.
Javanese families usually rename children who often become ill or who are involved in accidents and many other forms of bad luck. Sometimes, a parent holds a party to reintroduce a new name for their child.
For them, legendary British playwright William Shakespeare's famous saying "What's in a name?" is just not relevant to their belief.
State-run railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) has changed the name of its economy-class Empu Jaya train to Progo train, after having been involved in at least three deadly crashes in 2001.
Bambang Irawan, head of KAI's Regional Operation IV based in Yogyakarta, said the new name became effective as of last Friday.
"The change was instructed by the company's central management following frequent accidents experienced by Empu Jaya," he told reporters in Yogyakarta on Saturday.
The latest fatal accident occurred on Dec. 25 last year in the Central Java town of Brebes, claiming the lives of 30 passengers and forcing KAI president Badar Zaini and other directors to resign under strong public pressure.
The renaming was expected to restore the image of the Empu Jaya train with seven cars, Bambang said. "We hope the new name will be luckier for the train."
Progo is the name of a river that borders Yogyakarta city and Kulonprogo town. Before coming to the decision, railway managers had entertained the idea of renaming Empu Jaya after other major rivers Brantas and Code -- which trains pass over from West Java to East Java.
Business trains have been named after mountains, such as Argo (Mount) Lawu, Argo Bromo and Argo Gede.
KAI directors thought that Empu Jaya was probably too powerful for the train.
It was uncertain as to how the train got its name back in 1995. One version has it that the name Empu Jaya derives from the words "Lempuyangan", an old railway station in Yogyakarta, and "Jakarta Raya", or Greater Jakarta, the route it regularly served.