The Bandung riot
The Bandung riot
Why did the Bandung riot happen, if the motive was merely an
ordinary accident?
As was reported, hundreds of pedicab drivers and street
vendors went on a rampage this week. The trigger was the rumor
that Ading Subama, 61, a becak (pedicab) driver, died after he
was run over by a truck used by officers in charge of maintaining
order in the city's streets during a series of raids. That was
the rumor circulating. In reality, Ading did not die, although he
did become unconscious for a while after he was hit by a truck
that was used by officers.
The rioting in Bandung is related to two realities:
First, the growth of the city of Bandung into a metropolis.
Bandung's growth at present is phenomenal. With the influx of
capital has come an influx of migrants. In part, these people are
absorbed by the informal sector and, as is the case in other big
cities, they are finding themselves confronted by the harsh
realities of urban life, including confrontations with officials.
Second, the order-maintaining officers and the people who are
active in the informal sector find themselves placed in positions
of conflicting interests almost everywhere. Skirmishes between
becak drivers and street vendors and the officials are routine
occurrences in any big city.
It is the combination of those two factors that make it easy
for disturbances such as the one that occurred in Bandung to
erupt. And this can happen in any city. The Bandung incident is
not an isolated case but is a common growth phenomenon in any big
city in Indonesia.
There is no fool-proof recipe for preventing a recurrence of
such incidents. However, the frequency of the occurrence of such
disturbances could be kept down if there were a clear concept of
development for street vendors and others in the informal sector.
That is to say, if we are agreed that the informal sector
constitutes a good safety valve to counter the effects of the
shortage of job opportunities, then it deserves to be treated
with consideration.
-- Republika, Jakarta