The art of trafficking in Jakarta

The art of trafficking in Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Have you ever noticed how Indonesia often gets on the wrong Top 10 lists? We seem to get elected, nominated or defaulted into the Most Polluted Cities, Most Corrupt Countries and most recently into Reader's Digest's list of "Asia's Worst Drivers".

According to this survey, we were the No. 4 worst drivers out of 11 countries. The survey looked at statistical measures such as fatalities per 100,000 vehicles (apparently people are nearly 100 times more likely to die on the road in India than in Japan), as well as field research, including discussions with police officers, bus drivers, driving instructors and safety experts.

Anyway, on this list we were behind China, India and Korea, (don't you get a perverse feeling of relief that at least we aren't the worst -- let's close the files quickly and move on!), and ahead of Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and, the safest of us all, Japan.

One of the Indonesians interviewed for this report declared that "many of my foreign friends refuse to drive on the roads here. They are too scared, but Indonesians are used to it".

For the sake of intercultural harmony and to bridge the apparent perception gap between the foreign community and the local driving society, allow me to present a different angle on this issue.

One of the reasons that foreigners are often puzzled by the way Indonesians drive is the fact that, although we are known as basically warm and nice people, when it comes to driving we tend to change lanes, cut in front of cars or wiggle in and out of traffic with an attitude that seems to contradict our basic respectful nature.

Well, I think an explanation can be found in the different paradigms, or perceptions, in Western countries and in Indonesia about what one is supposed to do when driving.

When you learn to drive in most Western countries, the first rule that you are reminded of over and over again is to always "make a gap" between your car and the car in front of you. So if you are driving at a speed of 40 miles per hour you should make sure you have at least a 4 car length gap between you and the car in front of you. If you drive faster the gap should be enlarged by about 1 car length for every 10 miles per hour, and vice versa if you slow down. Let's call this the "make a gap" paradigm.

Take the average Indonesian driver -- myself for example. I learned to drive by "filling in the gap". I went to the police station to take my multiple-choice exam, donated blood to the Red Cross, happily did my driving test and went home knowing I would get my license in a few days.

During this entire process I can't ever recall hearing "make a gap" being mentioned specifically -- maybe in passing or in an indirect way like "don't get too close" -- but never purposely and definitely never repeatedly.

So, I got my driving license and merrily drove into the streets with "don't get too close" as my basic reference. After a while I also learned that although I needed to remember "don't get too close", I should also make sure that I "don't get too far" because I discovered that if I got too far from the car ahead of me another driver would conveniently "fill the gap" I had created. Aha! Here's the problem with the expatriate community!

Whereas expatriates drive with a "make a gap" paradigm, we locals see it as a friendly invitation to "fill the gap". So, you see, we're only being kind and obliging when we "fill the gap" that was created, and have no reckless intention to cut you off! "Make a gap" meets "Fill the gap".

The other item that was mentioned in the Readers' Digest article was that the "most dangerous drivers are the ones who get paid to shuttle the public". You know, the bus driver that kind of slows down in the middle of the street to let a passenger out, or the mikrolet cabby who abruptly swerves to the side of the road to pick up a waving prospective passenger.

Now, it is interesting to observe that these public transport drivers can be seen as "public enemies No. 1" or "customer service providers No. 1", depending on your point of view. After all, where else can you get that kind of service? Think of it as the ultimate "Pick Up and Delivery, Anytime and Anywhere" service. Even global companies like Federal Express, DHL or TNT, would be proud to have this sort of standard.

So the next time you drive, make sure that you "don't get too close" and yet "don't get too far" because if you "make a gap" that means you are inviting someone to "fill the gap". And if you see those quirky public transport drivers, think of them as customer service heroes meeting the expectations of their customers.

Pretty straight forward don't you think? Those guys at Readers' Digest did not get the whole picture. We shouldn't be on the list of "Worst Drivers" but the "Most Obliging and Customer Friendly Drivers". OK, drive carefully and I'll see you on the road!

-- Bernardus Djonoputro