Jams should be overcome, not created

JAKARTA (JP): No, Mr. Niess, the IMF has got it completely wrong. The reasons for the Indonesian crisis are not economic. It is due to a difference in cultural values.

Like many, I thought for a long time that these Asian values were just another ploy for the power holders to make more money and stay in command. But finally I have to admit that there are major cultural differences. For example, Indonesians love, and are addicted to, macet (traffic jams).

Western culture, and economics, puts much emphasis on the smooth, free flow of things -- such as money, people and cars. Indonesians do not. Here, the motto is: "How can we create jams?"

I saw evidence for this a few weeks ago. I was invited to a wedding, a Batak wedding to be more precise. There were the usual traffic jams outside as we arrived at the meeting hall to park. But what amazed me was the organized confusion inside, at the entrance of the hall. All the margas (tribes), i.e. the extended family, were requested to come in together for the well-wishing. It was complete chaos, at least from my point of view. Of course queuing was out of question (you don't want to look at the back of the person in front of you). So you crowd, you push and shove like cattle, in the heat. You think; "What a lack of organization!" But no, this is the organization. This is part of the wedding, designed purposely by the wedding committee.

To create the first macet, they limited the entrance by keeping the gate half-open and blocking it with a few plants. They let new arrivals stepping out of their cars have a gratuitous chat first with people especially assigned for that purpose.

They arrange to have just a few less tables and chairs than there are guests. This assured a peculiar chair dance. They also put the orchestra close to the tables and distributed loudspeakers throughout the hall. The speakers were turned up just loud enough so nobody could ask for the exit.

I have the privilege of living off Ciputat Raya. This gives me the tremendous pleasure of participating at any time of the day, all week, in the favorite macet pastime of Indonesians. The Lebak Bulus bus terminal (like so many other terminals) has been very well designed so that full armadas of buses and legions of passengers can get off and on their carrier in an efficient and safe way. A five to six-lane road in front of the terminal assures that traffic will never get clogged under whatever circumstances. And yet...

Before the krismon (monetary crisis) I thought that if there was a macet the reason was: too many people, not enough buses. But now, with much fewer people, and (too) many buses it is still jammed. Even on Sunday afternoons, when you would think it hard to organize a macet, they succeed. I think, on those occasions, they call a special task force. The strategy is very simple: Pile up six Mikrolets (minivans) next to one another so that only one lane is left free for cars to pass through.

I read that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education and Culture decided to subsidize the small bus companies... to promote these types of cultural events. The Ministry of Manpower is also happy with these activities because they create more jobs for attendants who show the way around the Mikrolets to the seventh "free" lane. The Ministry of Trade is also happy because (as has been written before in The Jakarta Post) the bus drivers bring their services closer to customers.

But yes, Mr. Niess, don't let us fool ourselves. The few who are supposed to get better, special service obtain it at a higher (physical) risk and put elderly people, small children and disabled people at a greater disadvantage. The attendant jobs created are artificial and cosmetic, and do not solve the real problem. The subsidies given to the bus companies are often a waste of money as the assumptions and criteria are ill-conceived. And finally, it is a slap in the face for the majority of passengers and buses who use the terminal according to written rules.

I cannot imagine what would happen if, at no additional cost, the Lebak Bulus bus terminal would just enforce its own rules, instead of bending toward the "Asian values": Every day tens of thousands of people would get home an hour earlier. Hundreds of thousands of liters of fuel would be saved. Surely with the savings in fuel people would buy imported stuff instead of using the locally produced, and subsidized, "premix". All the passengers, and buses, would be treated equally. No special deals for the stronger, the fitter or the more daring. With the exception of the few Mikrolets at the exit, the majority of the buses would fare better and with lower operating costs, saving fuel and time.

Yes, Mr. Niess, we could draw the parallel further to the "credit macet". But then I risk becoming too serious. It is clear that as a terminal the Central Bank had all the means and mechanisms to control the banks (busses) and their passengers (clients). And it is clear that the macet could be anticipated. In fact, for years it was tolerated -- if not organized. It is clear that the majority of clients were using banks and bank services as they were supposed to. But because of the behavior of a number of banks and their daring clients, the whole business community and the laymen (not only bank clients) are now cash- starved. The survivors of the macet hope that those in charge, or the new elite, will realize that for the common good it is better to eradicate macet. And the best way is "to stick to the rules and enforce them".

-- Philippe Lyssens