Happy Birthday, Jakarta and its myriad problems

Jakarta will celebrate its 477th birthday on June 22. Unfortunately, the capital city continues to face huge problems, such as disorganized public transportation, traffic congestion, floods, crime, poor public facilities, poverty and pollution.

All these problems exist because Jakarta is packed with people and buildings. It could be said that Jakarta is the city with the fewest parks in the world. But who can stop rural people from migrating to Jakarta if conditions outside the city is worse?

We welcome the building of such reliable public transportation as the busway and the monorail, even though Jakartans who live in suburban areas need to take uncomfortable public transportation to reach the busway or the monorail.

Commuters who live in outlying suburbs such as Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi get into Jakarta using poor public transportation, such as old trains. The overcrowded trains never arrive on time and have worn-out windows, fans and seats. Pickpockets, vendors and beggars mingle with commuters on the trains.

So far, no candidate has given serious attention to these problems.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta