Some people love disorder
People who live in an overcrowded urban center like Jakarta very often have the same characteristics: A lack of tolerance and patience because one normally learns that when one wants to get something or somewhere one has to fight for it. Another characteristic is diminishing social solidarity. For these people, emotion is usually high and tempers short. To make the trouble complete, those who have power usually tend to abuse it at the cost of others.
On the overcrowded island of Java there is hardly any marketplace that is not chock full or pickpocket-infested. Like conductors of an overcrowded city bus who like to push more and more passengers into the vehicle, a manager of a bursting market always sees more space for new tenants despite the suffocating air inside the already overcrowded place.
The situation sounds dreadful, but people from rural areas who dream of a better life keep traveling to the big cities to try their luck. And, from afar, Jakarta seems to offer a whole new beginning. But no doubt many dreamers have awaken from their worst nightmare here.
Soon Jakarta will welcome the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan, the first day of which falls approximately on the 17th of this month of November. In this situation the local authorities always show extra tolerance toward people who hope to earn extra by opening business on roadsides. These seasonal traders are in fact members of the less privileged group in our society. Through this attempt they not only try to make ends meet, but also venture to earn enough to enable the whole family to joyously celebrate Idul Fitri, the post-fasting festivity.
So in the coming weeks, road users will have to exercise more tolerance when they find many parts of the city's streets around marketplaces occupied by these seasonal traders. Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta has long been considered the most overcrowded place during the season. Even city buses have to weave in and out of obstacles along a road narrowed down to virtually one lane in front of the already chaotic Tanah Abang. Other smaller means of transportation mostly try to avoid this hell by sneaking back in the direction from which they came, unobstructed.
If this is not chaotic enough, so what? What about our modern shopping centers? The answer depends on your understanding of orderliness, or who sees what in the lawless situation and who benefits from the messy condition. The old adage that says that in a country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king seems to need adapting to a new condition: In a country of the sighted, the one-eyed man is king or in the country of the sane, the mentally derailed can be king.
Recent reports say that in upmarket shopping centers, like the Mangga Dua International Trade Center, Plaza Senayan, Mal Taman Anggrek, Mal Pondok Indah and others, where middle and high class people like to spend their time, managers have introduced a new policy upon which people are frowning because their facilities have been drastically reduced into narrow aisles only large enough for two people to walk along side-by-side. The managers might have noted that most people visit malls mostly to eat, to stroll around, to people-watch or to be seen. Only a few enter the exclusive boutiques. And so they seem to figure that they may as well rent the spacious areas to vendors who offer cheaper merchandise, while anyone who finds it disappointing can go elsewhere to enjoy themselves.
However, the problem is not that simple. This taking over of public facilities will not help vendors sell peacefully, and would-be buyers will continue to believe that pickpockets are in their midst ready to make the best use of the confusing situation.
This city of over 10 million people with its overcrowded markets, deserves to have modern, comfortable shopping centers for locals and foreigners alike to escape to.