Traffic jams, construction projects destroy Puncak
Traffic jams, construction projects destroy Puncak
Text by Lela E. Madjiah photos by Arief Hidayat
PUNCAK, West Java (JP): The sun is nestling among the rows of
houses down in the valley. Once in a while clusters of white
clouds float with the gentle breeze across the growing fireball.
The sun quickly disappears, it is uncertain which house it is
hiding behind.
The valley turns gray, the silhouettes eventually enveloped by
darkness. The mist thickens as the night air becomes colder. It's
time to head into the cottage and enjoy the barbecued corn.
Only the sound of water rushing down a stream breaks the still
of the night. Nocturnal birds casually call, like a pair of
cymbals underlying the regular rhythm of an orchestra. Peace and
tranquility engulf all beings.
Puncak's beauty and relative serenity is what draws Jakartans
on the weekend. Hordes of urbanites brave bumper-to-bumper
traffic and long lines at the Taman Mini and Ciawi toll gates to
briefly enjoy inhaling fresh, cool mountain air and feast on
Puncak's soothing greenery.
Congestion along the road leading to Puncak was already bad by
the 1970s.
"Why bother getting there at all? For fresh air? For which we
choke on polluted air during the slow ride?" a university student
said in 1977.
The traffic is now much worse. According to a recent police
estimate, between 50,000 and 60,000 cars head for Puncak every
weekend. On weekdays it falls to 10,000 vehicles.
As Jakartans became more wealthy in the mid 1970s, more people
were able to make the short trip to get out of the city. Puncak
has changed since then.
During Dutch colonial times, only the Dutch and a selected few
Indonesians could enjoy the luxury of spending a weekend in the
mountain resort. Even on weekends one could count the number of
vehicles traveling the winding road that sneaks its way between
lush paddy fields, glowing orchards and neat tea plantations.
After the country's independence, more individuals and companies
started to buy property in the area. A number of inexpensive
hotels were also developed to accommodate those not rich enough
to build their own hideaways.
As the economy grew, many of the city's wealthy no longer felt
satisfied merely spending the weekend in a hotel or a rented
villa. Owning a villa in Puncak was an image boost. A building
rush ensued, without consideration of the consequences.
Now, most of the paddy fields and orchards have been replaced
by buildings, many built on steep hills.
The development has brought dubious prosperity to the cash-
strapped locals. The feel of money and the knowledge of what it
might bring was too hard for them to resist, although it meant
selling land that had been in the family for generations. Farmers
who once ruled the land are now villa watchmen, their wives
working as cooks or servants for the villa's owners. Many of
their children, with no more land to till, work as ojek
motorcycle drivers.
Who's to blame?