Just give me back my Jakarta!
Just give me back my Jakarta!
JAKARTA (JP): When Art Buchwald, a Californian, went to the
pollution-free area of Colorado, he felt miserable. He had been
so used to breathing the smoke and fog in his over-crowded city
that he could not stand the fresh mountain air.
To ease his misery, the host brought an old vehicle with foul
exhaust fumes for him to breathe. That helped, but still, he was
uncomfortable with the clear blue sky. He needed to get back to
his smoggy city!
I had the same feeling when I drove along the roads of Jakarta
a couple of days before Lebaran Holiday. The traffic was so
smooth and quiet that I was scared to death. I had been used to
heavy traffic along with ear-splitting honks and a reckless style
of driving. "What in the world is happening to my Jakarta?" I
kept wondering.
I felt relief when I passed the Majestic area and found a
congested intersection. This could satisfy my desire for
excitement. But unfortunately, a bunch of security personnel
showed up and robbed my pleasure. They stood in the middle of the
jam, gave directions to drivers and put everything under control.
Soon the traffic flowed smoothly.
"This is ridiculous," I thought bitterly. "Exactly what are
they doing here? Shouldn't they flee and leave the traffic
management to the hands of Pak Ogah?" (Pak Ogah are unofficial
traffic attendants who usually stand at intersections and U-turns
to make money by deliberately helping drivers escape the hassle.)
Seeing so many security personnel in sight, you would think
they only work at the wrong time. Where the hell are they when
they are most in need? In "normal" conditions, when people have
to face threats from pickpockets, robbers, and illegal fee
collectors, the so-called security people are hard to find.
In order to grab the old feeling of the Jakarta transportation
system, I parked my car at a roadside and hailed a cab. Usually,
I have to wait a long time to find a cab with the old fare. But
now it was easy. A light-blue taxi approached me and the driver
greeted me sweetly .
He was still smiling when I asked him to go through the
usually crowded area. It was strange. Normally, he would refuse
and ask the passenger (sometimes rudely) to find another taxi.
And, needless to say, this time it was with the old fare!
For your information, the municipality of Jakarta has recently
made yet another "messy" decision; implementing the monstrous
hike of the taxi fare, while at the same time allowing some taxi
companies to remain operating with the old fare. Consequently,
taxis with the old fare are in demand and hard to come by. The
city councils, who previously refused the hike, are silent (or
silenced?).
Probably, they are busy traveling. You know, in the era of
reform government, traveling abroad is a new trend among
legislators, city councils, and government officials. Learning
from the president, they come up with various excuses to spend
the public's money for travel. "Making comparative studies and
socializing" are the most common ones.
Talking about socializing, it's the new thing that the
legislators are getting very fond of. And to show they mean
business, some of them travel around the globe just to socialize
and to inform others of the decree they made in a meeting. What a
waste of money!
With the advance in communication facilities nowadays, people
hardly need to travel. You can talk face to face with people who
are thousands of miles away through sophisticated means of
communication. Presentation of programs (or a decree, if you
like) can be done by setting up a conference involving several
parties in different places of the world at the same time. After
all, that's what modernity is all about. The only drag is, by
conducting a long-distance presentation, you can't go sight
seeing on the public's account.
Back to Jakarta in the holiday season, I really miss the
commotion. Everything is quiet and boring, demonstrations are few
and far between, bus drivers do their job in an orderly manner,
and political celebrities refrain from their usual battle.
By the time I wrote this story, however, a friend called. "If
you're still longing for commotion, I have good news for you. A
bombing spree is going on. There were bomb blasts at several
places in Jakarta and in other provinces last night. Sixteen
people were killed."
I was stunned! A bombing spree! No! That's the last thing
people need now. Bombing will result in death and injury of
innocent people. The government must take a quick and real action
to stop this. And the public demand explanation as to why it
happened and who are responsible. The usual "we will find out"
and "we will proceed in conformity with the prevailing rules and
regulations" won't do. Show us the truth, and pronto.
As for Jakarta, we don't mind dealing with traffic jams, bad
services, Pak Ogah, three-in-one jockies and all that. But
please, not a bombing spree! Just give us back the old Jakarta.
-- Carl Chairul