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7 Fashion NO NOs in Jakarta

28 Feb posted by
Skinny Jeans

Forewarning: This entry is created for entertainment purposes only. If you are easily offended, feel free to close the window or browse along other topics.

After observing some of the fashion trends in Jakarta, I had an idea to put up a list of things you should not try to pull (with some exceptions of course!) in Jakarta.

  1. SKINNY JEANS: Dudes, please do not try to pull the skinny jeans style if you don’t have the built for it. Unless you are a rock star with mile long legs, seeing an average Joe wearing one is just wrong and there is probably only 10% of the population that can wear skinny jeans.

  2. CROCS: Yeah, they look cute on babies and toddlers but when you’re old nothing screams more like a red-neck than a pair of crocks! Also crocs turned to be dangerous because it could get easily got caught on the escalator!

  3. HEAVY COATS & BOOTS: Uhm…unless you want to attempt a heat stroke (or a stinky feet if you’re just wearing the boots!), feel free to look completely out of this planet wearing one in Jakarta.

  4. SHORTS/HOT PANTS: If you have chunky thighs (much likes mine actually) do not wander in the malls wearing a very short short, safe it for the comfort of your own place and save others from feeling nauseated.

  5. MINI SKIRTS: Leave the mini for nicely sculpted legs!

  6. VISIBLE PANTY LINES: Oh yuck, girls…have you ever heard of thongs or seamless panty ? Better investing in one (or two)! Showing the world your panty lines especially if you’re wearing super tight pants (not white! Eeek!) is just a big NO NO!

  7. SCARFS: Unless you are riding a Harley or an ojek (or traveling on a jet plane), wearing one in the heat of Jakarta is simply ridiculous!

6 Comments
Filed Under: Indonesia, Jakarta Livin'

Want To Marry Indonesian Woman? You Better Be Rich, Really Rich!

24 Feb posted by
rings2-772674

Only two days after I posted the link to the news about Proposed Marriage Bill (RUU) that claim to protect Indonesian women’s welfare by making the future ‘foreign’ husband pay Rp. 500,000,000 (yep that’s million!) or equivalent of 53,792.361 USD as per today’s exchange rate, I got so many replied on my Facebook page.

Apparently, the Religious Department is mulling over this bill again. This bill isn’t new. It was a hot debate topic and had caused strong opposition from Indonesian women back in 2005, many had thought the bill didn’t pass and life goes on. So to hear the bill has been brought to life is well…revolting to say the least!

This Indonesian scholar, Nuning Hallet had written a very good article about the issue and to quote her, she wrote:

“Explanation on Article 142 paragraph 3 of the draft bill mentioned the deposit is to protect Indonesian women should their foreign husband neglected them. Deposit will be return when their marriage reach 10th years anniversary. However, if you look at it from “Familial State” perspective and nationalism based on body politics, I think this is an effort to suppress the number of mix marriages between Indonesian women and foreign men in order to keep the country’s sovereignty.”

And this one:

“Policy regarding women’s interests almost never being discussed at the parliament. Government institution feel they know more about their women’s needs from their manly specs and waited on the women to reacts on those policies. In this case, the draft bill had successfully provoked Indonesian women’s anger, even those who have no relationship with a foreign man. Their biggest concern is the stigmatization of Indonesian women being ‘sold’ by their own country.”

Although from further reading about this topic, it says it will be applied to Muslim Indonesian women, I still feel outraged and disgusted. I may not be Muslim, but I am Indonesian and a woman who thinks these parliament members had completely lost their minds!

They claimed to protect Indonesian women but the way I see it, this is nothing more than one heck of a pimping legalization or giving mail-order bride a government approval! These women are not a commodity, for God’s sake! Should they really earnestly care about Indonesian women welfare then why the heck they don’t even give a damn about Indonesian migrant workers? Lots of them even got killed, tortured, raped, you name it! What about them? Also, let’s not forget about the Indonesian women whose husband just walked out of them without leaving a single cent and married someone else, fathering more child than he could remember. Are these women getting any attention from the government? Hell NO! Is there even an enforced law about Child Support like in many other countries have?

There’s no money in the world that could stop if a husband is really a hidden sadistic person, you know! Think about it, let’s say a really wealthy foreign man who happened to have that kind of money lying around somewhere paid the deposit, took the new wife back to his home country, beat her up like a punching bag, abused her like a slave or worst killed the poor women what the hell is our noble government can do about it? It would just give these guys more reasons to overpower their wife since he had legally ‘bought’ her from her own country.

Dowry is not a new thing in Indonesia, it is engraved in some part of the culture but not something the government should step into and abused, I think. Following Egypt? Ehm, did anyone do their study first? Let me break it down for you, sirs:

  1. In Egypt this rules applies only to those who have 25 years age gap between them.
  2. The foreigner must put 50,000EGP (8,000USD) in the National Bank of Egypt in the wife’s name.

Now that sounds more logical! They are putting the ‘dowry’ in the wife’s name at the national bank, not in their government appointed bank like proposed on this BS bill! 8,000 US Dollars not 50 grand for crying out loud!

As a woman who married a foreign man, I can tell you that more and more Indonesian women rather go to their husband’s country (or somewhere else) just to get marry. Why? Simply because the system here is so not transparent! On paper, the fee to get marry is this much but on the ‘field’ the numbers varies, depending on your ‘contacts’. If this bill passed I can guarantee more of them will leave the country or even abandon their citizenship’s!

Talking from my own experience, the procedure to get marry abroad is more complicated but everything is transparent, the steps by steps are manageable as long as you got all the documentations you needed. I came to the States to married my husband using a K-1 Visa or well known as Fiancé Visa. It was a breezy process to obtain my visa, 3 months and I was well on my way. After the wedding, we applied for my Conditional Resident Permit (Green Card), now this process was more intricate and it ‘only’ took us over a year to get approved, that after we contacted our local state representative (similar to DPR Member here) who took care of our case immediately and with no charge! With that in hands, I can work, I can go to school, I can even buy my own house if I want to. The only thing that separates me from American citizen is I can’t cast my vote!

Sadly, here it is a lot more difficult for Indonesian women to sponsor their own husband to obtain a resident permit. The law even prohibited resident permit’s holder to purchase property here. While the Dual Citizenship law that just passed in 2006 is a great relief for plenty of mix marriages couple, there are still so much that needed to be fixed to honor this kinds of marriage. Needless to say, we got better ‘treatments’ in other countries than our own, which is kinda sad, no?

So, if you really want to protect us here are some ideas:

  1. Education, education, education! Why don’t you provide counseling to Indonesian women about being in an inter-nations marriage? A lot of women are suffering from culture shock when they moved abroad. Educate these women on why a prenuptial agreement is good to have.
  2. Clarify the complicated and sometimes shady bureaucracies of either getting marry in Indonesia or register a marriage.

For sure there are many more that needed to be fix to protect the welfare of our Indonesians women about mix marriage but those two are what popped up in my head right now.

7 Comments
Filed Under: Indonesia, Mix Marriage

Drooling Over Bags

23 Feb posted by
Jill-e

No, these are not your regular branded bags like most women dream about! These are camera bags. The first camera bag I ever own is a LowePro CompuDayPack, that I got over a year ago. It’s big and holds up nicely but I am a women after all  (don’t forget a mother!) and I only use my CompuDayPack when we’re going out of town, for day to day basis I dream of that one perfect camera bag that won’t scream “I-am-loaded-with-expensive-toys” kinda bag. After much search online I found these bags:

1. Jill-e  Medium Black Leather Camera/Carry-all Bag: This one looks perfect for doing some daily errands and I could easily slip in a pack of baby wipes, my small wallet, keys, and other little things that I usually carry. The price tag? US$ 239.99, rather pricey.

2. The Kelly Moore Bag: Now this one is chic and stylish enough even for a working girl/photography lovers. I love the look of this bag. It’s bigger than the Jill-e one with a price tag of  US$ 249.00, slightly cheaper with more room to put your stuffs.

Kelly Moore Bag

3. Epiphanie Bags: With this one I’m torn between Ginger and Lola. Not only that I think they are way more pretty than the previous two but the price is way cheaper, again compare to the other twos for US$ 164.99. Lola captured my heart the most simply because Red is my favorite color.

Unfortunately only the Kelly Moore offer shipping to Jakarta. When I put in my data to get the shipping quote it came up with two options first by USPS Priority Mail International for US$43.50 and the other one by UPS Worldwide Expedited for US$146.15. Pricey! Not to mention the risk of dealing with the Indonesian Postal Service…ugh I don’t think so! Guess I’ll just have to safe and the next time we went back to the States, I’ll order one of them (or two hopefully!).  What do you think?

6 Comments
Filed Under: Musings, Photoblog

Mijn Oma

19 Feb posted by
She adores her great grandson

The last time I went to Makassar was in 2007, I went to visit my Oma (that’s how I calls our Grandmas in the family) there with my Mom and brother. Lil’ A was a baby. We wanted to make sure my Oma got to see her first great grandson since at the time we were all still living in Dothan, Alabama.

She adores her great grandson

This time when I walked into the nursing home, they were having their daily sermon (the place is run by a church) and although I told them we can wait, someone did go in to get her. From the distance, I could not believe my eyes…that can’t be my Oma! She looks so frail and someone had to help her walk, she was so skinny. Her changes break my heart! As hard as I want to deny it, she has aged so much since the last time we met.

Tears were just streaming out of my eyes when I saw her and hold her fragile little body. She cried too. Sadly, Lil’A was afraid of her…of the whole place. He screamed his head off the moment we tried to walk inside the nursing home. One of my Aunts stayed outside with him where he happily played in a becak (rickshaw). Oma said not to push him and to let him be, she said she’s happy she could see him from afar.

We sat down at the porch and she started talking in Indonesian, usually she’ll speak more Dutch to me. The first thing she said to me was “I don’t know why Jesus hasn’t come and call me home…I’m so tired…” my mouth felt numb to that, thankfully my Aunt Jane was there and she’s a church activist that actively involved in nursing home visitations. It was my Aunt who rescued that awkward situation and said “That’s because Jesus still loves you, Oma. Jesus wants you to see your families and when it is His time, you will be going home.” Again, tears just flow out of me.  My aunt Jane asked how old Oma is and she replied in all seriousness that she’s 297 years old. She’s 94 (for some reasons I always thought she’s 97!).

When I asked why she’s so skinny now, she whispered “The foods here are not good!” I asked her what she liked to eat, “Chicken satay!” she said. So I told her that she will get her satay tonight or any other night she wants to! That’s when I slipped her some money. My mom had told me not to give her a 100 thousand bills (the 10 thousands bills and 100 thousands have almost a similar pinkish color) since sometimes she got confused and people will take advantage of that. Shame on you to lied and steals from an old lady! Later, I told supervisor there to please let her eat whatever she wants to. Being 94 years old and in her conditions, I would try to make her happy!

“You know, my husband went to sea and never came back…” she said with a faraway look and I was hit with such a huge sadness because I know how my Opa (Grandfather) died so young in 1973 and I never get to meet him. I never really know the details as it was never discussed in my family so I never ask thinking that it was too painful to talk about. She went on to say that he had come and ask her to go with him but she said not yet. Superstitious or not, I’ve heard similar conversations about how the passed away loved ones ‘came back’ to the near death family members. My other Opa (from my mother’s side of the family) said the same thing a few days before he passed away. Her words gave me goose bumps! The lady who works there told me that the week before I came; one of the nursing home residents woke her up at 3 in the morning because my Oma was in the bathroom. When she was asked what she was doing she said “A man had told me to go and get a bath, it’s time to go.”

I asked her if I can go inside and see her bedroom. We went inside and she told me to grab this big black suitcase sitting collecting dust on top of her closet. It was heavy, and when she told me to open it I found a lot of her photo albums, some are really really old. She wanted me to keep them! I was honored and sad at the same time. Those are her legacy, her precious memories well kept in hundreds of pictures. When I hugged her tightly and cried thanking her for the pictures, she rubs my back and said “It’s ok Non, this is life. Sometimes we’re up, sometimes we’re down.” She always calls me Non it’s from the word Nona (means miss or girl). I find that moment very emotional and sad that it was her who comforted me as I was too sad to comfort her.

Her condition is fast deteriorating and I realized, we might not have long before we have to bid her farewell. She asked about my father, her only son’s left. She only has 2 sons and the eldest, my Uncle Jimmy had died awhile ago. From Uncle Jimmy, Oma have 2 grandchildren, one of them too had died of a sudden death in 1991. So that left her with one granddaughter who’s now living in Makassar too.

She said every afternoon, she’d sit down by the porch waiting to see if someone would come by and see her…I can sense her loneliness. Although I had spent 2 precious days with her and I know that made her really happy as she clutched my hand also Mr. X’s on our last day there before we had to go to the airport, I wish I could stay longer.

In my heart, I knew she’s waiting on my Dad to come and see her, maybe for the last time. She kept telling me how my Dad always works so far from her. I left her that day with a very heavy heart filled with guilt and regrets because for nearly all of my life, we always lives far away from her and she’s too settled there to move anywhere else. My Dad promised he would come and see her when he’s home for his leave the end of March. He’s currently working in Zambia, Africa.

Going through her pictures I had a rude awakening that I really didn’t know all that much about her, especially about her past. These precious pictures went back as far as the 1920s, when she was a little girl. I cried for not having the chance to listen to her stories, some that she might have forgot already and I’m sure she has a lot of memories to share. Her neat penmanship in some of these photo albums might permanently be a mystery to me since I can’t read Dutch.

She was born in 1916…in time where this country was still under Dutch colonialism, no wonder she speaks and write Dutch fluently. From her stories, I know she still have relatives in the Netherlands but I don’t know them and sadly will probably never will. She went there once a long time ago with my cousin so she might remember them.

From her pictures, I can tell that she was a smart young lady back then even for that era. She traveled a lot and had lived in beautiful parts of Indonesia. Some of her childhood pictures stated Malang, Surabaya and other parts of Java Island, will have to wait on my father to read the rest of it.

Assuming she took some of the pictures herself, I can tell she’s a great photographer because some of them are so stunningly beautiful. In a way, I found where this love for photography came from!

She’s 6 years older than her husband, which is something that’s probably a little uncommon  back then when they got married. For as long as I could remember, she’s always sewing or stitching something. She was a great seamstress too and that’s how she managed to survived for so long after my Opa died, not only that, she also had a lot of students. I believe most of her dresses are handmade. The strong independent woman is still in there somewhere behind that frail little body that trapped her soul now.

I can only pray that God will given my Dad a chance to see his mother this April and he would be strong enough to let her go if her time comes.

Ik hou van je voor altijd, je zal altijd in mijn hart, Oma!

6 Comments
Filed Under: Musings, Photoblog

Makassar – Revisited

15 Feb posted by
Seafood galore

Knowing that I was born and still have families in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Mr. X decided to took us along with him for one of the outstation audit program. Since my mom and bothers couldn’t make it, I took my aunt with us.

We suppose to leave Jakarta at 4:30 PM but around 10:00 AM, Mr. X called and told me an accident had happened with one of their fleet so he will have to stay behind and took care of things but he will try to hop on the last flight to Makassar that night or the first flight out in the morning. Thanks God my aunt was there! Our flight was delayed for almost an hour and it’s really hard keeping a plane crazed little boy to stay put at the gate. I was in a bit of a foul mood after knowing Mr. X can’t come with us and I was worried that he won’t be able to make it after all, so when a guy cut me right in front of the cashier in a small café I really can’t help but asking him “Are you in a hurry, Sir?” he looked puzzled and said “No…” then I snapped at him “Then why are you cutting me off? I think it’s pretty obvious that I’m waiting in line here before you came out of nowhere?!!!” Gosh, I hate people like this and I don’t care if you’re way older than me, if you can’t wait in line and cut me off I’ll voice my objections! Same thing happened when we were called for boarding, my Aunt was holding Little A’ when a woman just cut right in front of her and pushed them aside. “Hey! Pushing your way to the plane won’t make you get to Makassar any faster, won’t it????!!!” I yelled at that inconsiderate woman! Good Lord!

We had to do a 15 minutes transit in Surabaya. I never been to Surabaya’s Adiscipto airport before, but OMG that place was filthy! I mean FILTHY with garbage cans overflows and scattered garbage on the floor of their waiting area. We reached Sultan Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar after 9:00 PM local time. Someone from the airline was already there at the bottom stairs to pick us up. He handed our luggage tags to another guy and we were ushered inside the arrival terminal where my Aunt Jane, her husband Uncle Ferdy and their daughter Ella greeted us. I was impressed with the new airport, it was modern and big.

After the staff collected our entire luggage, we parted ways with my Aunts. They went to go get dinner then meet me back at the hotel. The staffs drove me and Lil’ A to the hotel, I wasn’t familiar with the roads anymore but I was flabbergasted when we got off the new toll road and passed rows after rows of pubs and clubs with so many ‘chicks’ looking for their ‘job’. Too bad I couldn’t reach my camera from my bag since Lil’ A fell asleep on my lap. Never seen a red light district in Makassar before but then again I haven’t been there for ages.

The staffs took us to Sahid Hotel, it’s an old hotel but it looks pretty nice on the outside and their lobby. Check-in was a breeze but I was greeted by an unpleasant smells when we stepped out of the elevator on the 4th floor. The room smells like old closet that you haven’t open in years! Since Little A and I were obviously too tired after the trip, I didn’t even bother to take any pictures or ask for another room, heck we didn’t even take a shower as tired as we were. The carpet was so dirty (proof showing on Lil’ A’s feet!), the bathroom smells so old and rusty. I couldn’t really sleep that night because the smell was strong but Lil’ A slept the whole night through. In the morning, I found out that the hot water is not running and the old tub was clogged. “We are doing some maintenance work, Ma’am.” explained the receptionist when I called downstairs. Mr. X couldn’t make it that night so I messaged him and told him I want to move to another hotel. So I spent the early part of that morning looking for a new hotel and most of them are full considering it was the weekend and with Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day fell on the same day, I guess most of the hotels are only selling twin rooms. (I should know since I was once a reservationist in a hotel!)

Around 11:00 PM I found a hotel, Mercure’s Royal Regency Hotel and we quickly checked out and I briefly called the station Manager there to informed him of my decision to move. I explained to him, I don’t mind if the room doesn’t have internet access or other little things and it’s not that I want a 5 stars hotel (although I wouldn’t refuse it either!) but if they don’t even have any hot water, I’m out! Lil’ A likes his warm bath/showers. He apologized and asked if we needed a ride to the new hotel and when I told him no thank you, my uncle will take us there he said he will personally drive Mr. X to the new hotel.

Mr. X didn’t showed up to the new hotel until after 2:00 PM. Then we all went out for a late lunch, the best Coto Makassar in town! A driver picked Mr. X up back at the hotel at around 5:00 PM; it is after all a business trip. After Mr. X left back for work, the rest of us went to the nursing home to visit my Grandmother.

From the nursing home, we all went to my other Grandmother’s house, which is now owned by Aunt Jane and her family. There, I got to meet some old childhood friends, I had spent 1 year living in Makassar to finish elementary school before we moved to Borneo. It’s quite amusing to watch Little A ran around with the other kids, on the very same little street where I used to do the same thing many years ago.

When we returned to the hotel, Mr. X was already there and he was done with his audit but he still have to do some more work on the phone and computer. We decided not to go out for dinner with the family because Little A was already so tired from the long day. After he fell asleep, I decided to ventured out and find us some late dinner. Took a becak ride down to the beach side, an area called Pantai Losari. The place had changed a lot and all the street food sellers that used to line up the beach side has been temporarily moved to one spot while the government is building a manmade island to place them in the future. All these information came from the becak driver who happily fills me in on how much the area had changed.

On Sunday, our last day in Makassar, after we checked out and left all our stuffs at the concierge, we went out to find some food & souvenirs but unfortunately because it was the Chinese New Year’s most stores and restaurants were closed. My Aunt Jane teased us that we couldn’t picked the worst timing to come there! Fortunately, we did found one souvenirs store that’s open. Boy, Mr. X went overboard with the stuffs there! Too bad we couldn’t bring home the famous pork bakpao (Chinese buns) or the delicious Makassar’s fried noodles. Mr. X asked if we could eat seafood so Uncle Ferdy took us to this seafood restaurant, I forgot the name of the area. That place was packed! It’s two stories and seems like since most restaurants were closed, people went there instead. The seafood’s were fantastic and super fresh!

We stopped by at the nursing home after lunch so I can see Grandma one last time before we left and to introduce Mr. X to her, they never met before. From there we found Pisang Epe (grilled press banana served with durian and brown sugar sauce) seller on the side of a road and we ordered some to bring back to Jakarta. At 3:30 PM a driver from the office were already waiting at the hotel to take us to the airport to catch our 5:25 PM flight. We said goodbye to Aunt Jane, Uncle Ferdy and Ella.

By the time we reached the airport, it was raining so hard you could barely see the road. Oh and since they changed our flights to the later time, we doesn’t have any tickets whatsoever, fortunately Mr. X’s badges works like charm! We checked in, and went upstairs.

The new airport kind of remind me of the Baiyun airport in Guangzhou, China, and I like the new design, way better than how it used to be. The bathrooms were pretty decent and clean. Unfortunately, I saw some spots where it leaks! I was told that they built the airport in such a hurry to finish it up alongside the new toll road that connects it to the city. Things were a little chaotic by the designated Gate for our flight because the passengers were not allowed to go inside. Some people were already complaining and the flight was obviously delayed again. Mr. X immediately got busy. I can’t write too much about that here but let’s just say that I too gave a piece of my mind to one of the airline’s staff.

Our flight finally left for Jakarta after 6:00 PM. An hour delay! A weekend is definitely not enough to enjoy Makassar!

5 Comments
Filed Under: Indonesia, Photoblog, Travel

Some Ideas To Heal Jakarta’s Traffic

5 Feb posted by

Jakarta: Feature
Creative Commons License photo credit: Ikhlasul Amal

Jakarta traffic has been steadily getting worst by the years! 5 years ago it was bad, today it’s one of the worst in the world and if the government really didn’t step in and do something it will only get worst. Did you know Jakarta is estimated to lose $1 billion a year due to the bad traffic and collective failure of urban planning dates back at least 50 years, and has left the city with no integrated system of public transport. Says 70% of Jakarta population uses private vehicles.

By all means, I’m no expert but dealing with the crazy Jakarta traffic almost daily, hey like it or not I will have to go outside and do stuff, can’t help but wondering what can be improved about this nightmare. Here are some ideas:

  • Fix the damn public transportation system! With how bad  public transportation look and their services here, not very many people are willing to use the bus or train if they have better option such as their own cars/motorbike or taxi. Most public buses here look like it might give you tetanus if you get bump on one! They are very unregulated too besides the obvious cleanliness factor which is almost non-existent, these buses sometimes contribute a lot with jamming the traffic by stopping whenever and wherever they sees fit. God knows, I got so irritated if they stop and wait on people to hopped in and blocked traffic behind them. An intersection in Slipi area is one of the worst where big buses and those smalls mikrolet just stop and do whatever they want, even when a traffic police officer is right there, standing directing traffic with so much failure I feel sorry for the man. I wonder when someone from the government will finally have enough courage to stand up and actually do something about this. I would love to take my son on a public transportation as long as it’s in a decent and clean condition and I’m sure most Jakartans will do too!
  • Busway system just doesn’t work! The initial idea is pretty great! When it first opened 6 years ago I gave it a try and it does speed up commuting time. Fast forward it to today, busway seems to do little to help ease the horrible traffic as I saw their routes expanded, they are always full, reminded me of just another ride in metro mini! Very inconvenience! If the streets of Jakarta are as wide and as well constructed as its other neighboring country, busway will works! There are just not enough lanes for this once a grand project of Jakarta old governor.
  • Built bigger road, less malls! With its visit Jakarta campaign, boasting about the shopping experience in Jakarta felt like a big joke. Uhm, yeah I’d rather go to Jakarta and shop at their grand fancy malls but I will stay until the mall is close to avoid being caught in traffic jam? I don’t think so! Maybe, the officials should take a little visit to Guangzhou, China and see how impressive their road infrastructures. Granted, I haven’t seen all of China but with that many people there, they really did a great job with their roads. Their highways are real highway unlike Jakarta’s nightmare toll roads! It is a public understanding here that the roads in Jakarta were built only to fatten the greedy corrupted government officials. These companies had to spent tons of money buying their way to win the bid thus, the quality of their job will deteriorate resulting in many roads of Jakarta being in terrible conditions within only a year or two. To get it fixed, again place your bidding to the government, never ending cycle right? But really, Jakarta needs to be ashamed of their road conditions!
  • Put a STOP to overpopulated motorbikes on the road. For roughly $50, people can take a brand new motorbike home in Jakarta. Promotions of cheap motorbikes are everywhere. I can go on and on and on about how obnoxious most motorbikes’ drivers in Jakarta, so let’s not go there. The point is, there are way too many motorbikes already and it is nuts to expect people in their cars to pay attention to them instead of the other way around!
  • Regulate toll road usage. How many times you’d notice on a creeping toll road (especially the one that goes to the airport?) these big 16-wheelers or 18-wheelers that drive slow and sometimes on the right lane?! It annoys the heck out of me to see this! Why, because these big giants can easily take a detour and use the outer ring toll roads instead of going through the city. Back in the US, most big trucks like this especially ones that goes from town to town will take the highway/interstates that doesn’t connect them through the city, in other words they stay off the city traffic! Should these giants really need to go through the city for construction reasons, regulate it so they can only go into the city after let’s say from 11 PM until 4 AM!
  • A stricter Driver License Regulation. The rules are there and has been there by the book (probably dusty somewhere!) that everyone must take a test before being handed their license. I remember how funny it was when my father went down to make a new license because he had lost his wallet in Johannesburg and the police simply told him that all will be ‘taken care of’ if he paid this much money. Being, the competent driver that he is and an expert in defensive driving course, he demanded to take the test. Now, imagine if these rules are being strictly implemented? It would mean fewer idiots on the loose in Jakarta streets! Accidents numbers will probably go down. Use the point system like in some other countries. Speeding tickets will reduce your points and worst come to worst, one will lose their license! Maybe implying this plus the vehicles insurance alongside the registrations, tax will also help in healing Jakarta’s traffic.

I maybe just a mom…but I think about these stuffs and I believe whoever it is in charge in our government better thinks for the people too instead of fighting like bullies in the parliament seats.

6 Comments
Filed Under: Jakarta Livin', Musings
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