Why not compromise?

Why not compromise?

After years of absence, the becak, that humble three-wheeled
pedicab which the city administration has been trying without
much success to remove from the capital's streets, is back on the
road -- and in the news. The incident that shocked Jakarta's
citizens into realizing that the city administration had not
entirely succeeded in banishing the hardy becak from Jakarta came
on Tues. Aug. 14, when a Hansip (civilian guard) named Matsani
died from wounds inflicted by a mob of becak drivers.

For a measly fee of Rp 20,000 -- the equivalent of US$2.40 --
Matsani had agreed to help the city's law enforcement officials
carry out a crackdown on becak drivers who were operating in the
Roxy area of Central Jakarta in defiance of a city ordinance
dating back to 1988. However, as law enforcers increased pressure
and becak drivers held fast to their ground, the campaign turned
violent. Amid a shower of rocks and hostile insults, Matsani soon
found himself cornered and severely beaten by becak drivers. The
tragic thing about his death was that it could have been avoided
had both sides been able to temper their emotions and act with a
little more restraint.

No one seems to know just how or when the becak first made its
appearance in Jakarta -- or, for that matter, in other cities big
and small. What is known for certain is that, in most cities at
least, they did not exist until after the outbreak of World War
II, when food shortages and poverty in its direst forms first
began to affect thousands or perhaps even millions of
Indonesians. Bearing this in mind, the becak can probably be
viewed as part of the phenomenon of poverty that has, since the
end of the war, never really been eliminated from society.

While no one has apparently kept track of the phenomenon, the
becak continued to grow in number until it reached a total of
about 7,000 in Jakarta alone this year, operating in a little
more than 500 localities throughout the city, according to the
best estimates released by the Urban Poor Consortium, a Jakarta-
based non-governmental organization (NGO). Although it was
officially banned from the streets in 1988, the becak never
really disappeared from the city's streets.

So much a part of life have they become among Jakarta's
citizenry in the lower and middle-class population brackets that
in 1998, when a bylaw was passed by the Jakarta city
administration to bar them from city streets, it was not only
becak drivers who protested the move, but the majority of the
population as well. The fact is that, for many people, the becak
fills a real need that cannot be provided for by any other means
of transportation. Office workers find them convenient for taking
them to work and home again. For thousands of housewives, they
provide a cheap and convenient means of transportation to carry
them and their shopping home after a trip to the market. For
running short distances and in terms of convenience, no modern
means of transport compares with the becak.

Given the convergence of interests that exists between becak
drivers and the majority of Jakarta's citizenry, therefore, the
question arises why a compromise cannot be reached between the
city administration and becak drivers. Such a compromise could,
in addition, have the added benefit of providing thousands of
jobs for migrant workers in this city while preserving peace and
order at the same time. This line of reasoning seems all the more
justified since a court order, dated July 31, 2000, declared the
ban on becak, as contained in Bylaw No. 11/1988, unlawful.

One of the city administration's main arguments for barring
becak from the streets is, we understand, that the job is
inhumane and disparaging. Another argument, and one that is less
often openly admitted, is that becak are difficult to control and
tend to cause traffic jams. To the first argument one could
contest that if allowing people to drive pedicabs was considered
inhumane and disparaging, then depriving people of employment in
difficult times, such as at the present, is probably no less so.
As for the second -- granted, becak could disrupt traffic on the
city's main roads and avenues. For what reason, though, can't
they be granted licenses to operate in residential neighborhoods
or around certain complexes such as the Gelora Bung Karno sports
compound?

Hopefully the city authorities can give this subject some
deeper consideration and soften its stubborn stance of
confrontation. We are certain that by doing so Jakarta's city
fathers will earn themselves gratitude not only from becak
drivers but from thousands of Jakarta's ordinary citizens as
well.