Who is not afraid of Jakarta?

JAKARTA (JP): At 470 years of age Jakarta is still a city of opportunity for people who want to quit rural poverty, but it can be a horror city for others.

Many villagers, who could hardly keep their noses above water back home, have moved to Jakarta because they decided that the best place to make money was where the rich spend it.

And many are quite successful at earning their daily bowl of rice.

The city of opportunity also offers criminals easy targets here. And this is the dark side of the capital city of 10 million people.

Recently, 15 minutes before a Garuda plane landed at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport from North Sumatra, three of its passengers were busy calming their fears about the rumors they had heard about poor public safety in Jakarta.

Before leaving Banda Aceh, some wise men had advised them to be careful during their first visit to Jakarta. "From the airport," a sage recommended, "take a blue taxi, not a yellow one. Beware of unauthorized taxis because the drivers might be criminals preying on innocent new visitors. They will take you to a deserted area on the outskirts of town and rob and kill you there."

As the three left the terminal, they were approached by one of the men they were most afraid of: An unauthorized taxi driver.

They were really scared. Although they repeatedly rejected the driver's offer he kept harassing them. They suspected he was a head hunter in a primitive society.

One of the three thought: "Oh God, life has really ceased to have a meaning in Jakarta, and the disaster starts here."

Their fright was later mixed with disappointment when they saw no blue taxi waiting in the taxi line. Most of taxi's queuing for passengers were yellow cabs. They had heard that yellow cab drivers liked to zig-zag carelessly through Jakarta's notoriously snarling traffic just like demons on wheels.

In fact, their conclusion was not completely true because taxi regulations at the airport have significantly improved. The officers in charge sometimes distribute questionnaires to passengers for their comments on the service in an attempt to further improve the system.

And unauthorized taxis do not belong to criminals but to people who try to extort thousands of rupiah from ignorant people.

At last the three took an airport bus to Blok M. While sailing above the beautiful overpass, another passenger told them that at the terminal they could take a taxi to their relative's house.

When they saw a city bus for the first time they jokingly whispered to each that they would never live in Jakarta because they "did not want to become monkeys." They were referring to the people hanging out the bus doors.

A man sitting near them told them that "as soon as you get into a city bus here you experience a process of dehumanization."

The process, he said, had in fact nothing to with the many pick pockets inside. But once you are in, the driver will no longer regard you as a human being but merely as a body whose value is only Rp 300, the fare you pay.

"That is why," he said, "when the driver loses control of a speeding vehicle, the hell driver does not mind to careering into a river. The drivers have mustered the art of escaping unhurt leaving the passengers buried in the water." The three were filled with trepidation.

At Blok M terminal they took a taxi to their relative's house in Blok A.

But the driver, who apparently sensed his passengers' poor knowledge of the city, manipulated the route and drove them around for more than an hour to make more money.

The three realized that the driver had taken advantage of them when they told their relative about the experience.

They were so disheartened by the humiliation that they canceled their plan to visit the famous Jakarta Fair and other programs. They took a bus home after three days.

The men were apparently shocked by the set of alien values they encountered in Jakarta. Many people perhaps share their opinion but can do nothing.

Hearing the story, a police officer who lives a hundred leagues from my house, said that Jakarta is like a besieged fortress, those outside want to push their way in and those inside want to get out. But many are condemned to stay in.

The three men are lucky because they live far away from the purgatory here.

-- TIS