Lack of support for Monas rally shows public apathy towards problems
Lack of support for Monas rally shows public apathy towards problems
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The call went out to protest the fence that is being erected
around the National Monument (Monas) park in Central Jakarta, but
only 1,000 people answered on Sunday, far short of the 4,000
organizers had hoped for.
The human chain formed by demonstrators only managed to cover
half the park -- from the western to the southern end. The
demonstration was organized by the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC),
the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), the Democratic
People's Party (PRD) and several other non-governmental
organizations.
Noted singer Harry Roesly of Bandung, Jakarta Residents Forum
(Fakta) chairman Azas Tigor Nainggolan and Indonesian Forum for
the Environment (Walhi) chairwoman Emmy Hafild, who had expressed
their commitment to Sunday's protest, also failed to show.
UPC chairwoman Wardah Hafidz said the lack of support for
Sunday's action showed that many residents were apathetic about
the problems in the capital.
She said many people wanted these problems fixed, but refused
to get involved and fight to fix them.
"I think it is a kind of public despair in the face of the
various problems of life. I received many SMSs from people who
supported the action, but not all wanted to be directly
involved," said Wardah.
She also said that many activists and political activists
preferred speaking in cafes, hotels and other luxury places, but
were reluctant to join any street action.
The fencing off of Monas park has been strongly opposed by
many landscape architects, environmental activists, urban
planners and others.
Rully Besari Budiyanti of Trisakti University's Institute of
Landscape and the Environment, said the fence, which will cost
the city Rp 9 billion, will reduce the already limited amount of
public space in the capital.
"Public spaces are needed by urban residents as arenas for
interaction," Rully, the head of the university's Landscape
Architecture Program, told The Jakarta Post recently.
The city administration is putting up the controversial fence
to control the number of street vendors working in the park.
A number of vendors who have kiosks in Monas park said they
were given permission to do business in the park after paying
officials from the Public Order Agency.
On Sunday morning, the demonstrators, including political
observer Arief Budiman and urban observer Marco Kusumawijaya,
joined street vendors, pedicab drivers, street singers and
victims of forced evictions.
They held hands to create a human chain, while voicing their
opposition of the fence and the recent reelection of Jakarta
Governor Sutiyoso. There were also speeches and theatrical
performances during the action.
The demonstrators said Sutiyoso, who was reelected on Sept. 11
by the City Council, did not deserve to lead the city because he
ignored the plight of the poor.
"The ongoing park fencing project shows the arrogance of
Governor Sutiyoso, who considers street vendors, people living in
slum areas and pedicab drivers to be the trash of the city, who
should be taken out and dumped," said one of the speakers.
Arief said Jakarta's poor suffered the most as a result of
Sutiyoso's policies during his first five-year term.