Jakarta to soon bid adieu to noisy 'bajaj'

After transporting Jakartans for nearly three decades, bajaj (three-wheeled motorized vehicles) will begin disappearing from the city's streets in the next few days. The city administration will phase out the Indian-made bajaj in favor of locally made kancil (four-wheeled motorized vehicles). The Jakarta Post's Urip Hudiono and Evi Mariani have taken a look back at the history of the bajaj and the role these vehicles played in the development of Jakarta. This is the first of six articles.

The capital city has long been associated with several things: the National Monument (Monas), the Semanggi cloverleaf, the line of skyscrapers along Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin, and its icon, if you like, the distinctive, orange, three-wheeled bajaj.

Like the tuk-tuk in Bangkok, since its introduction in 1975, the Indian-made bajaj has been a familiar sight on the city streets. Indeed, it has captured the hearts of many, who have grown used to the rattling sound, the bumpy ride and the often slow-to-start vehicles.

At present, a sitcom which is aired daily by a private TV station that relates the simple life of a poor bajaj driver in the metropolis, enjoys very high ratings.

Bajaj were introduced to gradually replace becak (pedicabs) as as an alternative means of transport in the city, besides buses and taxis. Becak were banned altogether in the 1980s, although some still operate in parts of the city.

However, what goes around comes around. After almost 30 years of operation here, bajaj -- the Jakarta administration has confirmed -- are to be replaced with kancil, a four-wheeled vehicle that is manufactured by local automotive company PT Kurnia Abadi Niaga Citra Indah Lestari.

While the plan has been in the works since 1982, and the administration stopped issuing new permits for bajaj in 1986, it continued to allow their operation, without preparing a suitable replacement vehicle. That is, until 2001, when it finally decided upon the kancil.

In a letter signed by Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo on May 24, the administration approved the initial operation of 250 kancil starting in July at the earliest, followed by the withdrawal of 250 of the older bajaj.

Jakarta Transportation Agency head Rustam Effendi, meanwhile, confirmed that his office had already issued 50 operating permits for the kancil.

The administration has said that the bajaj are no longer roadworthy. While their noisy, smoke-emitting, two-stroke engines are said to worsen the city's pollution, their number and reckless drivers are accused of worsening traffic congestion.

However, with around 14,000 bajaj currently operating in the city, replacing them could prove difficult. Each bajaj provides work for at least two drivers, and many of them are worried that the change will leave them jobless.

Last year, when the administration first said that it would start replacing bajaj with kancil, bajaj owners and drivers staged numerous protests. In June, upon hearing that the kancil would start operating this July, thousands of bajaj owners and drivers again rallied outside City Hall.

Bajaj owners and drivers rejected the kancil, arguing that the changeover would reduce their incomes, as they would not be able to compete with the new vehicles, nor afford to purchase kancil themselves.

Many bajaj drivers told The Jakarta Post that they could not accept the notion that bajaj were the main cause of the city's worsening pollution. They said that many other vehicles emitted thick, black, exhaust fumes, yet the administrations did nothing to ban them from the streets.

The drivers also objected to being called reckless. Several of the drivers, who were driving bajaj in the 1980s, said at that time, the Jakarta Police traffic division had taught them how to drive and strictly obey traffic regulations -- but the training was eventually discontinued.

In fact, India has produced a new model of the bajaj, which is apparently environmentally friendly, but the newly passed bylaw on transportation prohibits the use of three-wheeled vehicles for public transportation in the city.

So far, the policy has not been enforced as the administration is still arranging operational permits for kancil.