Jakarta: It's chaotic, crowded and polluted

Kurniawan Hari and Anissa S. Febrina, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In celebration of Jakarta's 478th anniversary, this Sunday's edition features a cover story detailing the traffic problems and the lack of green areas in the city. Indeed, there are a multitude of problems confronting the city, but several of the expatriates we spoke to believe solutions to these two problems would greatly enhance the quality of life here.

Ayako Shimizu, a staff member of the Information and Culture Section at the Embassy of Japan, was waiting one morning for a taxi in Hang Lekir, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, when a car pulled up beside her.

She got into the car voluntarily when the driver offered her a lift to her office on Jl. Thamrin.

"I had been waiting for a taxi for quite a long time, so I accepted the offer. Possibly, he thought I was a joki," she jokingly told the Jakarta Post.

The joki is a product of the Jakarta administration's "three- in-one" policy to ease traffic congestion in the city during rush hours.

Drivers often pay joki to raise the number of passengers to three so that they can enter major thoroughfares affected by the three-in-one policy.

Under this policy, only cars with at least three passengers are allowed to pass through the city center.

While some dismiss Jakarta as chaotic, crowded and polluted, others perceive the city as a melting pot.

Bob Smith, a CEO of an advertising company, cynically said that although Jakarta was the capital of the world's fourth biggest country, it basically had no "roads".

"The roads in this city are not roads but places where people fight to get in front of each other," said Smith, who has been living in Jakarta for 25 years.

Despite the city's hectic pace, the social and cultural amalgamation of Jakarta can also be invigorating.

"Well, there is a unique experience everyday."

"I like being in Jakarta as my standard of living is reasonable and I can save money for the future. What I don't like is the corruption, the police and the way they treat people, the traffic and the rubbish," Smith added.

Korean businessman Ahn Ali, 40, said he loved to go to malls, cafes and traditional hangouts like warung tegal (street-side restaurants selling Tegal food) or restoran padang (Padang restaurants).

"Traditional cafes are more interesting. People used to drink coffee in warung kopi (traditional coffee shops) but now they have Starbucks," he said.

While Ahn enjoys the city's modern malls or cafes, he regrets the lack of green public spaces.

Ahn suggested that Jakarta should protect the parks it has and look at establishing more.

"The Monas (park) is good but we don't have many places like that," he said.

Belgian Marc Peeters concurred with Ali, saying that the city administration needed to upgrade sidewalks for pedestrians' comfort.

If strong action is not taken soon the capital's traffic problem will only get worse, becoming more difficult to solve.

"Without traffic jams, people would have a great deal more time on their hands to finish their work," Peeters said.

The huge influx of villagers to the capital in search of jobs is part of the problem. The increasing population coupled with poor city management has resulted in a crowded and chaotic place.