Plis Deh Jakarta!

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo has thumbed his nose at a Supreme Court ruling and said the city will forge ahead with a major sea reclamation project. (JG Photo/Jurnasyanto Sukarno)

Bang Foke is pushing ahead with the sea reclamation project in North Jakarta, despite environmental experts saying that it will be disastrous, and even despite blocks from the State Ministry of the Environment and the Supreme Court.

So the statue above is apparently so offensive or something that it has to go, well at least according to FPI, and despite the protests from the artist, I Nyoman Nuarta. The Bekasi mayor has bowed down to pressure and ordered the destruction of the statue within 21 days, citing that it has no permit, among other reasons.

So I suppose we should tear down the Kereta Kencana statue and any other I Nyoman Nuarta work of art (as he always takes inspiration from living things), just because FPI says so.

And this from the group which tried to disband a transsexual rights forum, thinking it was a drag queen show. Bravo! At this rate, they’ll be running the city any time soon.

Seen on a Gramedia bookshelf – a Quran-reciting VCD sitting quietly next to the “Hantu Jamu Gendong” VCD.

The local MUI of Banten has recently declared haram the proposed statue of Sultan Banten Maulana Hasanudin, which in a cooperation between the South Tangerang City Administration and some private partners, would have been erected in one of the busiest roundabouts in the Pamulang area.

I haven’t the slightest idea on why this Sultan is so important as to erect a statue of him, but the MUI is apparently concerned that it will become a place of idol-worship towards the Sultan’s statue, which is blasphemy. Rightly so they say that the money can be better spent elsewhere.

So any comments on the other statue already standing (and protested) in the Menteng area, MUI?

Two boys sift through discarded waste floating on a river in Jakarta on Friday. (Photo: Adek Berry, Reuters) - The Jakarta Globe

So apparently, Jakarta has won 5 Adipura awards, which are awards issued for environmental awareness. All 5 Jakarta municipalities given the awards were the ones who managed to keep their areas clean, and supposedly being the greenest and cleanest in Indonesia.

Perhaps they kept the streets clean by sweeping everything into the river…

After much fanfare and haggling, the city finally decides to pay for compressed natural gas (CNG) it has been using for Transjakarta buses. The amount owed is Rp 9.5 billion, for usage since May 2006 to March 2008.

I must be missing something here… the CNG has been used, right? Why did it take so long to pay for it? And… why isn’t Transjakarta paying for it?

The environmentally-friendly NGO has stated that the monthly ‘car-free’ days are a waste – of effort, I suppose – and has urged the government to halt this activity and reevaluate the actual effectiveness of the program. My take? I agree.

The car-free day only clears up certain main roads in the city, which only displaces traffic, not stop it. This is similar to the bright idea of moving school hours half an hour earlier, without really attacking the root of traffic and pollution problems – too many cars and motorcycles!

Maybe the car-free days should be extended to cover all of Jakarta, with the exception of public transport. Oh, I forget, those smoke-spewing buses are part of the problem…

The Tangerang government is holding weekly searches to hotels in the town area in search of ‘adulterers’, alcohol and ‘illegal prostitution’. Oh, is there ‘legal prostitution’?

Anyway.

Many non-married couples were caught in non-star hotels, registered before being sent home, and the hotels were also searched for alcoholic drinks, as part of the enforcement of 2005 bylaws banning adultery, premarital sex and alcohol. Bear in mind that these same bylaws practically forbid female citizens to walk alone at night in fear of suspicion of prostitution.

A city public order agency official states that these actions are to avoid Tangerang becoming into a city of prostitution and alcoholic beverage sales, keeping in line with the city’s motto, “good morals”.

Well, I’m no advocate of alcohol or premarital sex, but seriously, aren’t there more serious issues to handle? Like, real crime?

Kenapa sih?

Kalau motor nyalip – dari kiri maupun kanan – harus langsung motong jalan mobil yang disalipnya?

Jakartan drivers are notorious for their tenacity in finding a way to go forward in traffic, regardless of the vehicle used. Gasoline conservation is a must so a vehicle’s momentum must be maintained at all times, and usage of brakes must be avoided at all costs. These basic principles override everything else; stuff like traffic laws, safety, common sense and the like. Like people think about those things anyway.

Several PKS (Prosperous Justice Party) were named suspects in an alleged illegal politicl campaign rally. The event said to be a disguised campaign move was the long-march of PKS sympathizers from Bunderan HI to the US Embassy, numbering to around 200.000 people, protesting the attack of Israel on Gaza (which is still continuing today).

The party head reacted to this saying that the rally was a humanitarian rally to support Palestine, and is no way a political campaign.

Yes, and all those PKS flags and banners brought by the crowd just happened to be there.

For the record: Plis Deh Jakarta condemns the humanitarian atrocities occuring right now in Gaza, but also condemns random rocket attacks on innocent civilians.

The city council rejects an idea floated by the police to arm community heads in the effort to maintain law and order.

Um… why would an idea like this come up in the first place? I can picture a Jakarta-style Mexican standoff, or one of those cowboy duels, but done in a small alleyway instead of the main road, to get rid of the ‘baddie’ of the neighborhood. “This housing complex isn’t big enough for the both of us,” says the community cheif (ketua RW).

Bringing guns into the community will only increase proliferation, and that’s when we assume everybody entitled with these guns will follow the letter of  the law. Yeaaah. Let’s just keep the guns with the police and armed forces – not that it’s limited to them anymore either.

Kamis lalu, ada sebuah SPBU di Jakarta Utara yang hampir terbakar karena sebuah puntung rokok yang dibuang sembarangan.

Coba kita baca lagi kalimat tadi. …. Karena sebuah puntung rokok yang dibuang sembarangan.

Pinter ya…