[sustran] Re: becaks

[Bob Cowherd]

The segregated becak/bicycle/pedestrian ways along the main streets of 
Solo and its sister city Jogjakarta are a legacy of Dutch planning in 
these two former royal capitals of colonial Java. 

A particularly interesting aspect of the Jakarta story is the 
theatricality of throwing the becaks into the sea. The becak holds a 
powerful position in the ongoing cultural struggle between the local and 
the global in contemporary Indonesia. 

One notably colorful assertion in this struggle is the recent practice 
(beginning in 1993) of restoring old "buffalo" bicycles in bright colors 
and spinning bells. Formerly these bicycles were the vehicle of choice 
only for poor farmers bringing their goods in from the hinterland. Their 
new-found riders are in part reacting against the rise of the new status 
symbols of mountain bikes, motor bikes and cars. Every Saturday night 
groups of young men and teenagers, usually riding two per bicycle, 
parade up and down the main streets of Solo and especially Jogjakarta 
ringing bells and enjoying a rare outlet of collective expression. The 
packs of bell ringers reach into the hundreds sometimes stopping 
motorized traffic much to the glee of the two wheeled throng. 

Still, the dramatic escalation of motorized traffic in Java beyond 
Jakarta is indeed sobering to those who recognize the present severity 
of the traffic congestion and the steep increase in first motor bike and 
then automobile ownership and usage that continues to accelerate. 

Robert Cowherd
Ph.D. Candidate
MIT School of Architecture and Planning