Busway construction halted

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 10/20/2007 4:04 PM  |  Opinion

Oct. 17, p. 3

Traffic jams can be reduced if all buses are allowed to use the busway lanes.

Imagine, we now have less lanes (some roads only have one), and there are still busses stopping in the public lane waiting for passengers and blocking the traffic flow completely.

If it is calledthen it should be available for all buses, not just the Trans Jakarta buses.

In my opinion it would be wiser for the Jakarta administration to consider building a motorway - a lane for motorcycles - rather than a useless waterway, and stop the construction of busway lanes.

This would be safer for motorcyclists and more convenient for cars. ADRIANI HARTOMO Jakarta

Why not use the money to ensure that there are enough buses on the existing corridors first?

The administration should only build new corridors when funding for new buses is available.

This would seem like fairly basic logic. MIKE Jakarta

Riau illegal logging

Oct. 16, p. 2

Timber companies will clean out Sumatra's forests and destroy all the oxygen producing and carbon dioxide consuming trees. After that they will leave the Island.

Every day they consume about 20,000 tons of wood. EFFENDY Pekanbaru, Riau province Muhammadiyah-NU rivalry

Oct. 17, p.

Why is the government only concerned about Muslims?

Have we become an Islamic country?

What happened to other religions?

Is our Ministry of Religion only concerned about Islam?

We no longer respect Pancasila. ANGKY Jakarta

Indonesia's tourism woes

Oct. 18, p. 7

I completely agree with S. Wirawan how to sell Indonesia to foreign tourists. As a longtime friend of this country, I was however shocked to see religious fanatics beating young couples in Aceh and chasing innocent women in Java on Swiss TV news last week.

As long as those pictures are coming to the living rooms of Western people, just forget any hope to attract more tourists to Indonesia. EDY REY Schaffhausen, Switzerland

We visit Indonesia every year for 30 days. We used to stay for 50-60 days before the current visa restrictions were introduced.

Now we spend 30 days in Thailand/Malaysia and only 30 days in Indonesia.

Please look at Thailand and Malaysia and see how easy these countries make it for us to holiday there. We still prefer to spend all our holidays in Indonesia but sometimes it is too hard. BERNARD LEIGH Gold Coast, Australia

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