[sustran] Re: FW: Update, Jakarta Issue [LOCOA]

[mobility]

Dear Paul and others,

I was in Jakarta when the crackdowns were going on.  (In fact, at the same
time, the World Trade Center was being attacked.)  I have spoken to numerous
government officials and NGOs in Jakarta about their justification for the
crackdown.  The depressing and rather amazing thing is that virtually everyone
in a position of leadership in the bureaucracy supports the crackdown.
Somehow, those of us arguing for legalization of becak in Jakarta have lost
this battle completely, despite rather continuous and herculean efforts.
First, a few comments on why the government claims it is so against becak,
second, other reasons that may be involved, third, why we are losing this
struggle, and fourth, what we might do about it.

Reasons the Government Officials Are Enfocing now the Ban on Becak

a. Some support the crackdown mainly because the use of becak and manufacture
of becak in Jakarta remains against the law, and will continue to do so until
the law is changed.  There does not, however, appear to be any support in the
regional parliament to overturn the law.  They said they eased up on the
crackdown during the crisis, but feel the crisis is starting to end.  (this, I
believe is the position of the Governor Sutioso and Deputy Governor Budhardjo,
though I will say more on them later)

b. Many believe that becak driver is the first job taken by new migrants to
Jakarta, and feel that legalization or even tolerance will encourage further
migration of poor people into Jakarta from surrounding areas. (this is the
position of Aboejoewono, the city environment agency)

c. Many believe they contribute to traffic congestion, though this is fewer
and fewer people, because, as was pointed out in the jakarta Post, there are
almost no becaks in Jakarta any more and the traffic is still completely
jammed. (this is the view of some in DLLAJ and DPU, though not all)

d.  Many believe they are backward and embarassing.

e. Many believe that the drivers are unruly and support the crackdown mainly
to drive off the drivers.

What Weve Done to Try to Correct this Mis-Impression

ITDP and our partner NGOs in Indonesia presented extensive evidence at the
Jakarta Intl. Conference on Transport and Clean Air that becak is not the
cause of traffic problems.   Almost all international participants and all
NGOs called for the removal of the ban on becak.   We have initiated a becak
modernization project in Yogyakarta, to show that becak can be modernized.  WE
showed extensive pictures of modern cycle rickshaws plying the streets in
Berlin, New York, other developed country cities.  LPIST did an extensive
study of many neighborhoods in Jakarta, working with the local community
associations in a way which using voluntary measures restricted the total
number of becak drivers in any given area, which would have put natural limits
on the level of rural-urban migration through this mechanism.  Certainly, many
people no doubt understand these points now as they have gotten a lot of
coverage in the press, in very good articles in the newspapers.

What's Really Going On

All of the modes of transportation that do not have large powerful commercial
backers are facing similar bans.  Bajaj is also threatened with bans.  Bemo is
basically gone.  Since nobody has been allowed to import new Bajaj bodies for
15 years, they are only importing engines.  There are a few relatively
powerful commercial interests that control the Bajaj industry, but they are
not corporate giants like PT Astra.  Several other vehicle manufacturers and
transit service providers would like to compete for the same transportation
market currently served by becak, and these manufacturers have a lot more
political clout.  Some of these new vehicles are being made by state companies
like Nusantara.  The Regional Parliament and much of the bureaucracy is
currently so corrupt that there is basically a price tag attached to any piece
of legislation you may want to get passed, and so long as this condition
persists, any legislative change is going to need a power and rich political
backer to get through.  There is almost no one inside the bureaucracy who's
hands are entirely clean.

This deep corruption of the levers of the state has led to profound alienation
among some segments of the NGO community.   The Urban Poor Consortium, (UPC),
for example, feels that the only way that popular forces are likely to win
anything from so corrupted a bureaucracy is through the threat of street
demonstrations and social upheaval.  Others feel that the initiation of
democracy in Indonesia has made less rabble-rousing approaches more
appropriate as the government is somewhat more responsive to the popular will.

UPC, led by Wardah Hafiz, has increasingly organized the becak drivers not
only to help solve the problems of becak drivers, but as a symbol of the poor
and socially excluded.  UPC has had becak drivers organizing demonstrations
against the Regional budget, against some IMF restructuring measures, and all
sorts of issues which have nothing to to with becaks as part of the
transportation system. The UPC becak unions have therefore become their crack
troops in a much broader political struggle.   Frequently, crackdowns against
becak drivers and demonstrations by becak drivers have turned violent, with
police and other security services being killed, police cars burned, etc.  Now
that Gus Dur has fallen from power, he claims to be the great proponent of the
becak drivers, even though when he was in power he did nothing to overturn the
ban.  Megawati was previously the champion of the becak drivers, and now that
she is in power she has also done nothing for them.

Like it or not, until the law restricting becaks in Jakarta is changed, the
law is on the side of the police.

Antagonism between the Government and Wardah Hafiz and UPC on a whole number
of issues has made it impossible for the government to deal with the issue in
a reasonable manner based on a reasonable and fair means of regulating
commercial passenger vehicles and traffic.

In this sense, UPC has done a disservice to the cause of non-motorized
transportation.  While many of us feel that the issue needs to be
de-politicized and treated rationally as a technical issue of how best to
regulate traffic and how best to regulate commercial vehicles, UPC has turned
into a battle over rich and poor, over justice and injustice.  While many of
UPC's criticisms are certainly valid, their enormous frustration about the
corruption of the political process entirely justified, and while their
efforts in defense of the becak drivers have been more rigorous than what
anyone else has been able to manage, ultimately one has to recognize that this
approach is not working.

What to Do Now

I have made the controversial suggestion that we use the becak modernization
project to try and convince a large investor like PT Astra, a national or
internatinal bicycle company, a state company like Nusantara, or any other
large, powerful and politically connected private investor to take up
production of a 'modern cycle rickshaw'.  ITDP and GMU and YSIK have already
developed the prototypes and are looking for an investor.  This vehicle we
would argue is not, in fact, a becak, as it is much lighter, has multiple
gears, is more comfortable, etc.  In this way, there would be a face-saving
mechanism for the government to show that they aren't anti-poor, they are just
anti-lawlessness, anti-UPC, anti-Wardah, and anti-exploitation of the poor.
Also, this large investor would be able to make some money in a way which did
not pollute the environment and could win it some positive public relations.

This would not of course be an ideal solution, but the circumstances are far
from ideal.

rgds,
walter hook

Paul wrote:

> Hi, Paul,
> it is good that you share this information with other people. But I think,
> to have a balance information, please check also with government why they
> do all of this. I am sure they don't do that just for fun, it must be a
> reason.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul Butarbutar
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:   Paul Barter [SMTP:geobpa at nus.edu.sg]
> Sent:   Saturday, September 29, 2001 10:20 AM
> To:     'sustran-discuss at jca.apc.org'
> Subject:        [sustran] FW: Update, Jakarta Issue [LOCOA]
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: hyowoo na [mailto:locoa2000 at yahoo.com]
> Sent: Saturday, 29 September 2001 10:22
> To: Kirtee Shah; Mr. Leo Shah; Rajesh Shah; Myung Ho Shin; SeungMin
> Shin; Tomoe Shitaba; Johan Silas; Amarasiri de Silva; Teresita Silva;
> Raajen Singh; Dibalok Singha; dickson Singha; Sri Sofjan; Sofyan; Thomas
> Soi; Thomas Steinbugler; Sustran; Amor Tampubolon; Jo Hann Tan; Tibet
> Fund; Edicio De La Torre; UCDO; UDLE; Dennis Upa
> Subject: Update, Jakarta Issue [LOCOA]
>
>            UPDATE,August 15 to 26 September 2001
>                   - Jakarta, Indonesia -
>
> A. NUMBER OF CASUALTIES OF STATE VIOLENCE
> AGAINST THE URBAN POOR OF JAKARTA
>
> 1. Confiscated becak
> "X Central Jakarta                      1904
> "X North Jakarta                                2283
> "X West Jakarta                         2665
> "X East Jakarta                         2147
> Total number who lost jobs             8,999
>
> This means 8999 people lost their jobs, thus the same
> number of families lost their earnings.
>
> 2. Food vendors (evicted, demolished)   71.857
> 3. Car wash service (demolished)            40
> 4. Houses (demolished)                   1.010
> Total number of people lost jobs        72.907
>
> 3. Urban poor arrested/detained
> "X 436 street sex workers
> "X 23 lepers and mentally disturbed
> "X 12 alms collectors
> "X 735 beggars and homeless
> "X 27 difables
> "X 95 stree children
> "X 329 ??informal?? traffic policemen
> "X 250 street musicians
> "X 386 others
>   3.293 Total
>
> 4. Houses demolished            1.010
>
> B. Chornology of Urban Poor Resistance
>
> 5. September 2001-09-26
> Pademangan Subdistrict, North Jakarta
> Confiscation of becak started at 02.00 a.m. One becak
> driver was shot by the police in a physical
> confrontation that followed. Becak drivers, street
> vendors and others retaliated, they attacked
> Pademangan sub-district office, resulted in glass
> windows, the foor and the front gate of the office all
> broken.
>
> Teluk Gong, North Jakarta
> Confiscation operation started by 04.30 a.m. One becak
> driver who alerted his friends by beating the lamp
> post was gang-beaten by around 20 municipality
> security guards; his skull was 10cm fractured.
> 7 September 2001: Muara Angke, North Jakarta
> A physical confrontation between becak drivers, food
> vendors and others with municipality security guards
> has resulted in 5 becak drivers badly injured.
>
> 11 September 2001: Muara Baru, North Jakarta
> Hundreds of becak drivers demonstrated at the Muara
> Baru village office that resulted in the village head
> agreed to stop becak eviction in the area.
>
> 13 September 2001: Jelambar Baru, West Jakarta
> Confiscation of becaks happened in Jelambar Baru the
> day before. Hundreds of becak drivers, food vendors
> and others attacked Jelambar Baru village office. The
> glass windows, doors and roof were broken.
>
> 15 September 2001: Municipality Office of East Jakarta
> More than 500 becak drivers, street vendors, street
> children and others attacked EastJakarta municipality
> office, resulted in glass doors, windows and roof were
> broken and 1 bus ruined.
>
> One becak driver was badhly hurt in the head, 4 others
> were detained in the Jakarta police headquarters. They
> were interrogated, beaten and was jailed in a very
> small room together with around 15 more people.
>
> 17 September 2001: Kalianyar, West Jakarta
> A municipality team confiscated a number of becaks in
> Kalianyar. Hundreds of urban poor, the majority of
> whom were becak drivers then attacked the village
> office. They threw stones to the building, the glass
> windows and doors of the office.
>
> Three becak drivers were arrested, one was released on
> 21 September, the other two were still detained in the
> police precinct of Tambora, West Jakarta. The two were
> beaten.
>
> 25 September 2001: Angke, North Jakarta
> 1 becak in Angke, North Jakarta and 5 in Kwitang,
> Central Jakarta wre confiscated.
>
> 26 September 2001: Sunter, Central Jakarta
> 16 becaks were confiscated, the team involved hundreds
> of policemen, mobile brigade, the army and
> municipality security guards.
>
> Sources: UPC (field data and clippings)
>
> =====
> LOCOA
>  Leaders and Organizers of Community Organization in Asia
>  80-A, Malakas Street, Brgy Pinyahan, 1100 Quezon City,
>  Philippines
>  Tel: (632) 925-8432,426-4118      Fax :(632) 426-4132
>  E-mail: locoa2000 at yahoo.com       http://www.locoa.net
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Listen to your Yahoo! Mail messages from any phone.
> http://phone.yahoo.com