Singing the blues on a Jakarta city bus

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): Paying more normally allows one to get better service. But do not expect this universal adage is valid when you ride a Jakarta city bus.

Take this example. A limited passenger Patas bus (the express air-conditioned bus which guarantees each passenger a seat) charges you Rp 2,300 -- a lot more expensive than the Rp 500 or Rp 7,00 that the regular kopaja or metromini buses charge. But in reality, many passengers do not obtain the right they are entitled to.

During rush hours, the Patas bus driver will pick up as many passengers as the bus can carry. Consequently, countless passengers -- who have no better affordable travel alternative -- cram into the bus; many of them do not get a seat. They would be "very lucky" if the air conditioner worked.

The ordeal does not stop there. For each passing minute, different street singers, poets, hawkers and beggars take their turn jumping in and out for money.

Some of them put on a stern face. They solicit money in a threatening manner. Hawkers offer their goods, exaggerating the claim of their products' quality.

On one occasion, a poet who introduced himself as Binsar had an angry expression; he appeared frustrated as he read out his poetry, condemning what he called "clever people up there", who looked down on those living on the street.

One of his poems went as follows: We want to work/ but our drivers' license is not recognized/... and we don't have money to bribe those clever people. We street people need to eat/ and we do whatever we can to survive. So, if you treat us well/ we treat you well/ if you treat us badly/ we can treat you much more badly.

Passengers of the air-conditioned PPD bus plying Blok M in South Jakarta to Pulogadung in East Jakarta were visibly annoyed but could not do anything about the performance.

And although the man told the passengers "it's quiet alright if you do not give me money", he woke up a passenger and asked him to drop some money in a can.

When another passenger refused to give him money, Binsar scolded him: "What's wrong with giving me some money? You can afford to take this bus, why can't you give me money? I need it to buy food."

Not long after the "poet" left the bus a street singer jumped onboard. He introduced himself as Imran, a native of Malang, East Java, before he sang his own version of three golden oldie songs. His voice was terrible.

"I'd rather do this than become a criminal. It's better, right?" said the man while shoving into everybody's face a plastic bag for donations.

Then a young man who introduced himself as Amir read out promotional words for his merchandise in his thick Javanese accent.

"This candy's ad used to appear in Indosiar (a private TV station), right in the middle of the Tersanjung (Flattered) series. It's made of chocolate cream, a delicious one," he said before placing the candy in each passenger's lap.

But the hawker knew his real target -- children. So anytime he spotted children, he gave the candy directly to them instead of putting it in their parents' lap. The children happily tore the wrapping open and their parents had to pay Rp 1,000 for each candy.

The bus' driver assistant, who is responsible for collecting fares from the passengers, said he or the driver could do nothing to stop the street singers, beggars or poets from operating on the bus.

"Trying to stop them would mean looking for trouble," said Ahmad, the assistant.

So the passengers have to pay a lot more money for the unwanted "services".

All in all, in the 15-minute ride from Blok M to the Bendungan Hilir area in Central Jakarta, there had been a poet, three street singers, two beggars and two hawkers taking their turns making money on the bus. Each passenger usually gave between Rp 100 and Rp 200 to each individual.

"I am used to them already," said Kamil, an employee living in the Cempaka Putih area, who takes the bus everyday to his office in the Blok M area.

He said he refrained from even complaining about the problem because openly expressing objection to the unwanted "service" could trigger a clash. He said that most of the time he pretended to be sleeping all the way if he didn't want to give money to the street singers, poets and beggars.

"I know that's how they make a living, but I can't give money every time they jump onboard," he said.

A female passenger, who refused to reveal her name, said that she was greatly annoyed by the presence of street singers, poets or beggars.

Before getting on the bus near her office on Jl. Sudirman, she prepares change from Rp 1,000 in her pockets.

"I think it's safer to do so than to open your wallet inside the bus every time you want to give them money. Opening your wallet means inviting pickpockets," she said.