'How can we walk safely along a busy street?'

Many people say that the month-long celebration of Jakarta's 478th anniversary, which falls on June 22, is just a way to sugar-coat the chronic problems of the city. Many believe that it would be wiser for the Sutiyoso administration to use this commemoration to make a commitment to sort this city's problems out. The Jakarta Post asked residents to share their thoughts on the most crucial issue, in order to ensure a more comfortable Jakarta.

Rino, 23, is an art director at an advertising agency in Jakarta. He lives with his parents in Cibubur, East Jakarta:

I still don't think we have enough public space. The Jakarta administration should add many more city parks, pedestrian walkways and special places for us to smoke in bus shelters or malls.

Take pedestrian lanes for example, how we can walk safely along a busy street if we don't have them. Street vendors have occupied most of them. Sometimes, we have to walk on the street.

Don't forget, Jakarta drivers are nuts. It seems that they don't care about people's lives. It's very dangerous walking on a Jakarta street.

Sisi, 20, is a student at the University of Indonesia in Depok. She lives in a rented house near her campus:

What concerns me very much about Jakarta is the fact that we can't find a trash receptacle when we need one around the city. If I take a walk anywhere in the city I will have difficulties finding a garbage bin to dispose of my plastic water bottle, for example.

What I am saying is that the city administration has to provide more trash bins, not far away from each other so that we don't have to waste time looking for one when we want to throw out some trash.

Even around Menteng (in Central Jakarta) which has some very clean neighborhoods, no trash bins are provided. We throw our garbage into the garbage bins of the households along the street, and most of them are tightly closed. So, sometimes we throw our trash in the gutter.

-- The Jakarta Post