Sutiyoso's 'becak' blunder

Perhaps many of our readers have never seen the creature called a becak, the man-powered pedicab about which the Jakarta authorities have made much fuss lately.

This long-forgotten (in the capital at least) means of public transportation, which is inhuman in the way it is operated, has become a hot topic since Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said he would not prevent their return in several Jakarta areas and then a few days later reversed his decision.

The reason for their return to the capital is clear. The drivers want to survive the calamitous economic collapse. Pedicab drivers were a symbol of destitution even when the country's economic growth was so impressive. But the way they try to make ends meet by pedaling a tricycle to transport passengers for a handful of rupiah is really a pitiful portrait of exploitation of man by man.

Fully aware of this grimy picture, Sutiyoso spontaneously decided to let the poor-man's taxi return to the capital because it looked like their last available way to make ends meet. The governor's reason was welcomed by several circles but he has failed to impress Jakarta city councilors.

They remembered that the long process of banning the pedicabs from Jakarta streets, which culminated in 1970, was based on law. They found now that, ironically, Sutiyoso too was on the wrong side of the law when he reacted positively to the poor people's presence.

The situation developed into a comic irony as Sutiyoso made another ill-advised decision. Under the councilors' pressure he withdrew his tolerance and ordered the poor drivers to peddle back out of town.

It looked like turning in a farce. The drivers were left in confusion. After seeing the greenlight from the governor more of them came. They arrived on trucks, not only from the surrounding towns of Bekasi and Tangerang but as far afield as West and Central Java. Last Friday there were 2,000 of them in the area.

These ill-clad, ill-housed and ill-nourished people have to go back to their dark, impoverished world. They must be willing to do so but they need money. And Sutiyoso said Thursday that his administration could not afford to send the poor people back home.

Now why has Sutiyoso been so indecisive? For the answer to why the governor made such an ill-advised decision one should delve into his background. He might have lived in surroundings where the supremacy of law was not respected that much and the poor were easy targets of public order operations.

What the governor should do now is to place himself in the sandals of the pedicab drivers. They might have rejoiced to hear his promise that they could operate in the metropolitan city until the economy recovers. The poor people might have heard that the recovery will take five to eight years to complete. And of course they never thought that a governor could have been so dim- witted.

So what we will now have is an antipedicab operation by the notorious city public order officers, who as in the old days, are unlikely to hesitate to use force when confronting the poor.