Plis Deh Jakarta!

This picture was taken very recently – note the service date.

With everybody blaming each other, more breakouts of violence occured between FPI and some other people wearing Banser T-shirts near the location where Habib Riziek is on trial. I tried to read through and make sense of the article yet I got lost when an FPI guy tied the Banser guys to AKKBB. How are they tied? And why are they so obviously all wearing Banser T-shirts?

I’ve seen what happens in these kinds of brawls and things escalate quickly from verbal abuse to the first attack – every party will blame the other for the first strike, without it being obvious on who actually did. At some point the issue is not about religion anymore.

In anticipation of the yearly ‘addition’ of Jakarta pseudo-residents from an influx of people from other areas coming back to Jakarta post-Lebaran, the government is heavily pushing the message ‘don’t come to Jakarta’. There’s a fine for those who do not have ‘the proper documents’.

Anyone have any idea what ‘proper documents’ are needed? Might as well charge Rp 5 million entrance fee to each newcomer and give them an orientation brochure on surviving in Jakarta.

Soekarno-Hatta International Airport gets 139 new toilets and 9 prayer rooms, as announced at a ceremony inaugurating the new facilities. The event itself was done in one of the new ladies’ washrooms.

An official event held in a toilet? Really?

As part of building a ‘better’ public transportation system for Jakarta, a Malaysian-controlled local company launched its series of buses to be used for the Transjakarta system. Never mind the irony that some Malaysian people actually want to make Jakarta a better place – or just make a buck from us Indonesians – the company, in a misdirected patriotic whim, named the bus ‘Komodo’. Why would you name a commercial product ‘Komodo’? Who’d want to buy something named after an oversize lizard? The Jakarta government, apparently.

Komodo is an endangered carnivorous species of lizard indigenous to a few islands in Indonesia, which might translate to these points in the context of Transjakarta:

• the buses gobble up passangers
• the buses have a hard leathery feel with sand all around
• they’re unusually big for its type [of bus]
• they move pretty slowly – unless there’s prey to be caught
• since they’re endangered, there must be very few of them – good luck waiting at the bus stop

In a small but notable incident last week, a woman and her husband was harassed by a member of the military, although it was said military member who rammed into their car.

This is not the first time a member of the military has acted above the law and mistreated common citizens – even I had an experience. I was with a friend in Bogor near a military base, and to turn back we used a small road that led to one of the entrances. When we were waiting for traffic to pass, a soldier came by the car and asked why the hell we were turning there. “This is not the place to turn, you cannot just use this road carelessly,” he said. To my defence, the road wasn’t even in the base’s area as the perimeter was clearly marked by a low wall. “Who are you? Where are you going? You better not be funny with me or I’ll beat you with my rifle butt,” he continued. I think the most violence-provoking act I did was the expression of disbelief on my face – what did I do?

Isn’t it strange how these military guys treat us? I’m not saying all are like that – but too often than not, we here these cases time and again.

No names were mentioned and thus I am not liable for a defamation suit

You’d think a moderatly expensive buffet restaurant would know their dishes, by spelling, and not just by sound. Cheers to a valiant effort… but keep trying, guys.

Supermarket cashiers have it tough these days. Count the shopping items properly or you’ll get fired. Make sure you get all the item codes right or you’ll get fired. Smile at the customers and indulge their questions and nagging, or you’ll get fired. Offer phone credit reloads and an obscure green bag, or you’ll get fired. 

An alleged malfunction of a gas pipe caused a minor explosion at Plaza Indonesia at 12 am today. And it took three hours for the police forensic crew to show up. And a poor security guard panicked enough to not even think of helping victims trapped inside the building. 

The alleged malfunction occured at the Papparazi restaurant which is under renovation, and thankfully nobody was in the immediate area. But it gets you thinking about work area safety – how could this happen? And if there were a  gas leak, what ignited the gas? I guess the police will come up with the answer – someday.

So even if we are protected from bomb attacks by the ubiquitous security guards at malls, we still have the risk of gas leaks? Let’s not even mention substandard building material and construction – so far, thankfully, there have not been any serious cases.

Meanwhile, Jakartans’ disregard for safety remains unsolved, with our esteemed politicians busy with the safety of their own backsides.

Maybe the quote-unquote marks on the word ‘dangerous’ mean the danger is not real?

In a stroke of apparent genius, the Jakarta government planned to deploy in-line skating police officers to react more quickly to the latent traffic jams.

Yes, that should work.

The announcement was made in June, yet we don’t see any skating policemen yet. Hopefully they have the brains to figure out that these skating policemen will need proper attire as well… well at least lose the hat and replace it with a helmet or something. And wear some body armor!

One thing bothers me…. where would they skate? In peak hours, the road is filled with cars, and any empty space not filled with cars, buses and the like is filled with motorcycles (even the pedestrian areas). Maybe the government is developing some sort of top-secret high-tech flying skates… or simply haven’t thought this one through.

I recommend you read through the comments to the article!

Thanks to Timm for the post.

Some guy wrote to the Jakarta Post and attacked motorcycle producers for not being responsible enough – sure, the high level of motorcycle sales is good for business and good for the country’s coffers, but to what social cost?

But the statement that surprises me (which shouldn’t, but still does) is:

The Jakarta City police say the number of motorcycles has reached 3.5 millions out of the total 5.7 million vehicles in the capital. This is a 300 percent increase in the number of motorbikes during the last four years.

THREE POINT FIVE MILLION MOTORCYCLES??? That’s like 60% of the total number of vehicles! No wonder we’re neck deep in motorcycle exhaust.