Traffic and APEC

Traffic and APEC

A suggestion has been made to declare Nov. 14 and Nov. 15 as
public holidays in Jakarta to ease the traffic for the
convenience of delegates to the meeting of the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

The suggestion made by State Secretary Moerdiono, in his
capacity as head of the APEC meeting organizing committee, is
logical because it is our obligation as host to ensure the
comfort of our honored guests.

Now, it all depends on the public. The traffic diversion test
conducted on Tuesday, in which two main roads were blocked,
paralyzed the entire city.

So, what should we do? Should we stay home, or go to work, or
school, despite the traffic congestion?

Moerdiono said the holidays were also suggested to prevent the
public from having to face such heavy traffic congestion.

There are some who may think that it would be nice to have the
unexpected holiday. Others might say we must remember that two
days of work will be lost. It could be said, however, that even
if we don't go to work, or school, the two days won't be wasted
because we can follow the sessions of the meeting through the
television. Furthermore, missing the time at work and school
could be seen as a contribution Jakartans can make to the
meeting.

Can we say that this is the end of the issue? Not at all. This
international meeting has made us aware about just how serious a
problem we are having with our traffic. APEC, or no APEC, we are
facing traffic jams every day. Hopefully this APEC momentum will
drive us to seek a solution to the traffic problem once and for
all.

-- Kompas, Jakarta