In celebration of Jakarta's blossoming of bicycles
In celebration of Jakarta's blossoming of bicycles
By Tim McHargue
JAKARTA (JP): Early one Sunday morning I witnessed a seemingly
endless parade of bicyclists pedaling down Metro Pondok Indah in
South Jakarta.
The bike riders were decorated in a glorious array of colorful
lycra, gaily greeting the dawn. Short pants and shirts, gloves
and helmets, sun visors and sun glasses, shoes and socks were all
in the blindingly bright (for such an early hour) neon and
fluorescent hues preferred by the new breed of cyclists.
For a moment, the drab stretch of Jakarta road looked as if it
had suddenly sprouted magnificent flowers, conquering the usually
smoggy and congested Jakarta thoroughfare.
The few passing cars were sorely out of place, boring
intrusions in the pleasant sight of hundreds of purple, yellow,
pink, crimson and rain forest green cyclists heading toward the
city center. It seemed an ecologist's dream come true.
Soon after, I discovered that Jl. MH. Thamrin is closed on
Sunday mornings, and that scores and scores of bicyclists flock
down the road, pedaling between the skyscrapers, to the National
Monument (Monas).
It is a sign of a burgeoning environmental awareness that so
many Jakartans have recently embraced the bicycle. It is also a
sign of political progress that city officials have seen fit to
surrender a thoroughfare to the pleasure of pedalers and
pedestrians.
Not long ago, I participated in an exciting annual event in
San Francisco, California. Every year San Francisco surrenders
the freeways which ring the "City By The Bay" to 12,000
bicyclists for half a day. I had the pleasure, which approached a
"peak experience", of pedaling on the freeways with this mass of
cyclists, enjoying a brilliant San Francisco Sunday morning with
an outstanding view of the blue waters on the Bay, the sun-framed
Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands in the distance.
The Sunday parade of bicyclists in Pondok Indah made me think
it would be great if a similar event took place in Jakarta, where
exhaust spews from millions of mufflers and bicyclists are
routinely subjected to near-death experiences as they compete
against an array of vehicles for a fragment of pavement.
Legislation requiring emission control devices would be even
better. It would significantly improve the environmental and
esthetic quality of the Jakarta landscape.
It would certainly make bicycling the streets of Indonesia's
capital city much less toxic. Inhaling carbon monoxide cocktails,
while huffing and puffing, shouldn't be a requirement for sacking
the automobile and navigating under one's own power.
It is encouraging that city officials, along with ordinary
citizens, are attempting to adjust to the increased interest in
recreational cycling through the streets and across the
countryside. An activity which has swept the world, the surge of
cycling enthusiasts requires some degree of adjustment and
accommodation. Safety is one concern and access another.
On a recent excursion to Bogor, I tried to get into the
Botanical Garden on my bicycle, intending to leisurely pedal and
enjoy the pleasant surroundings away from the snap and snarl of
traffic.
The ticket taker informed me that on Sunday and holidays cars
and bicycles were not permitted in the park. I then inquired
about the policy during weekdays.
"Cars and people, but no bicycles," was the gentleman's terse
reply.
The logic of banning bicycles from the area, while allowing
cars, escaped me entirely. The attendant tried to console me with
the fact that there were steep hills which would make cycling
difficult in the park. He obviously had little understanding of
what mountain bikes are all about, but I decided that further
discussion would prove futile. At some future date I would
return, when someone in power had embraced the concept of biking
in the park and had discarded the no-bike policy.
I have had similar experiences at Cibodas Gardens, Mt. Gede
National Park and Taman Safari. In the case of Taman Safari, I
understood, after visiting the park later, the reason an
attendant refused me admittance and mimicked tigers with his
hands.
I still argue that, with certain accommodations, it might be
possible to pedal through the Safari park. I do love adventure
when I ride, although the large mammal enclosures may present a
bit too much of a challenge.
The fact that recreational bike riding was considered a
suicidal death wish as recently as a year ago, but now there is a
proliferation of bicyclists power pedaling into the smoggy fray,
increases my optimism that Jakarta is slowly moving toward
allowing bicyclists equal, and non-toxic, access.
It will still take some major restructuring of civic
ordinances and a re-thinking of many obsolete concepts before
this town becomes a bike haven. But if the power brokers are
interested in making Jakarta a more humane and livable place, the
city should continue to move in that direction.
I found further encouragement in a large billboard of
President and Mrs. Soeharto sitting on a pair of bicycles. While
bicyclists organize a grassroots campaign to make their presence
felt and their desires known, it can't hurt to see the country's
leader pedaling with a smile on his face.
It will be a long time, and a major shift in political and
environmental consciousness, before Jakarta city planners truly
make the capital bicycle friendly. But the dazzling sight
presented to me early that Sunday morning, that festive
blossoming of bicyclists, was indeed cause for celebration.