My neighborhood reflects my country

Ratrikala Bhre Aditya, Contributor, Jakarta

Poverty is one cause of social problems. Poor people are unable to obtain a proper education and thus cannot become gainfully employed. As a result many turn to crime when they see the yawning gap between the poor and the rich.

Virtually all of these problems are inherent in my environment, a neighborhood in the shadows of the bright lights of Jakarta. I live in Petogogan Blok A, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, just two kilometers away from the symbol of posh metropolitan life, Pondok Indah Mall.

My house belongs to community unit 016, which is located between two streets, Jl. Petogogan Raya and Jl. Radio Dalam. To the north, this area faces Jl. Pela Raya and to the south, Jl. Mesjid bounds my kampong.

A canal with blackish water cuts through our neighborhood. All manner of waste and garbage can be seen in that canal, and in parts, the garbage collects, swarmed by hordes of flies. The area really stinks from that garbage, and a poor drainage system makes it very susceptible to flooding.

When the wet season comes, floods are sure to follow. Then garbage and human feces become a regular feature of every house in this area. Our community unit measures no more than six square hectares. It is divided into 12 neighborhood units, where 660 families live. If a family consists of five members, that means there are over 3,000 people area crammed into this area.

It is easy to imagine how densely populated this area is. Theoretically, each person has less than 20 square meters of space!

A densely-populated area has its own blessings, sometimes though. Neighbors are closely related because there is virtually no distance between houses. Sometimes only a small gutter on the side of the house separates two houses, usually the walls are connected.

Most residents in this area have come from outside Jakarta. Generally, 70 percent come from Central or East Java, less than 10 percent are the indigenous Jakartans, or Betawi people, while the remaining 20 percent are made up of various ethnic groups from other areas of the archipelago.

On average, some 25 percent of the population are children, another 25 percent are teenagers, some 40 percent are adults and the remaining 10 percent are elderly people. This multi-ethnic settlement forces most of the residents to develop respect and a tolerance towards others. Inter-ethnic clashes have never happened here. Another factor is that the residents are socio- economically equal.

This picture of the community in our residential area must give the impression of an impoverished slum. Poverty usually means someone who is unable to meet his/her needs for food, clothes and housing. They have to do back-breaking jobs to meet these primary needs. The only thing they care about is how to prevent their stomach from getting hungry. In such a situation, they do not think education matters much.

In fact, one's education will greatly determine one's future. Without enough education, one will be unable to compete with other people for a job in the future. Physical ability and good fortune are not enough to guarantee a decent life in one's future, especially in a big city like Jakarta.

Poverty is the problem of most everyone in my neighborhood. Most people earn just barely enough to make ends meet. For these people, education is a luxury. But then they will be in trouble when they find that, to get a decent job, one needs more than just secondary education.

Low education is therefore a serious problem in my environment. The reality is that busy and noisy Jakarta requires only people with good skills. This means education. Many youngsters with only a secondary school diploma fail to get the jobs they desire.

Understandably, these people will eventually be enveloped in despair and fatigue. Most of them will decide to stop looking for a job for the time being, while others prefer to compromise by taking a low-paid job. Those who have not decided anything will spend their time at home or squatting with friends at the edge of the alley and on small bridges that cross the river. These people can only rely on good luck, which, alas, is still yet to come.

It may well be that living as a jobless person for a short period is okay. But, when these jobless, unskilled, uneducated guys start getting older they start realizing that the only way to start a family is to make some quick money.

As soon as there is an opening for a job, not too difficult but well paid, they will immediately try it without considering the risks. What job is this? None other than peddling drugs. Transactions are often made at an intersection, at both ends of a lonely alley or in poorly lit stalls at the river side.

Then, these youngsters also often harass newcomers staying in cheaply rented houses. They show enmity against strangers. They will also bully the boyfriends of girls from this neighborhood they happen to be infatuated with.

Also of interest to discuss is the gap between the well-off and the poor. Sometimes the gap is so wide it gives rise to envy. Those who live in dire poverty must witness their fellow human beings living in luxury.

They can only dream of going to Pondok Indah Mall and spending millions of rupiah just for their own pleasure, purchasing designer clothes, the function of which is the same as those that cost a few thousand rupiah.

Unfortunately, many rich families live near the poor ones. The rich will put up high fences topped with razor wire or studded with pieces of broken glass.

There general lifestyles also stir deep jealousy. Many youngsters and children in my neighborhood desperately yearn for the lifestyle of the rich people living nearby simply because, as they have often admitted, they do not want to live like a villager.

Take, for example, the handful of Play Station rental shops, which are flourishing because many children -- trying to fulfill their dream to be like children of well-off families -- frequent Play Station cafes to satisfy their urge to play video games. The Play Station rental owners rarely, I imagine, take into consideration they are profiting from very poor kids who should be using that money for lunch.

What I have described above is a brief illustration of social problems in my environment. If I read the newspapers or magazines or listen to TV news, it seems evident that the socio-economic condition in my environment is a microcosm of the socio-economic condition of the nation.

The root cause of all these problems and social ills is poverty. Why is there poverty? Well, because the economic system does not accommodate the interest of the low-class people. All this is the legacy of a corrupt administration, which for over 30 years pursued an economic policy under the name of big development.

The key to solving these problems is education, or an opportunity for the young to obtain proper education. This objective can be reached only if the government sides with the majority of the Indonesian people and adopts an all-inclusive policy with a clear direction to provide everyone with free, high quality education.

Remember, the majority of Indonesians are the small people who have elected their leaders now holding office at the House of Representatives or in the government.

Born in Jakarta on April 19, 1986, Bhre is currently studying at SMU 82 state high school in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

His essay was submitted as a requirement to join the In-Docs (Indonesian Documentary) Junior Camp program at Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands) from June 27 to July 11 staged by the Masyarakat Mandiri Film Indonesia Foundation. Eighteen high schools students were selected to join the program.