Crash prompts renaming of train
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.