The long, hard road to modern Bogota

Sun, 09/07/2008 9:46 AM  |  Travel

Michael Menufandu, the Indonesian ambassador to Colombia, said he was most impressed by the way Bogota D.C., the country's capital, was designed and run by its leaders.

(JP/Emmy Fitri)

As far as the eye can see, the city has something special for everyone. The streets, parks, sidewalks and buildings seem to have a certain harmony with its geographic position on a hill. Bogota is like an emerald in its own right.

"I believe a city is not made over night. Strong leadership must be behind the success story that made Bogota today," said Michael, a former mayor of Papua. Michael may have held his position for only three months, but he has seen it all: Bogota inside out.

"The city government takes public services seriously. Public parks, for instance, used to be slums. People living in slums were evicted but first housing in suburban areas had been prepared to make the eviction humane.

"Parks are most important for the city's lungs; as you've seen, traffic jams here are notorious through many parts of the city," he said. "In Medellin, I heard from officials there, one of the reasons the parks were deliberately built was to reduce brawls. Free art exhibitions are frequently held at parks where people can mingle and interact; this has borne fruit as gang brawls have been significantly contained."

The embassy's first secretary R.D.M. Johan Mulyadi said the present day Bogota was the result of the ironfisted leadership that began during the tenure of controversial leader Antanas Mocus. At that time, 500 people were killed in street brawls each year.

"The crime rate was very high then. Street crime was often fatal, not to mention the rife abuse of drugs here. But that's all history now," Johan said.

"Mocus was replaced by his predecessor Enrique Penalosa, who continued what had been started by Mocus and introduced his BMW -- Bike, Metro and Walk -- motto to run the capital city."

The law came down heavily on drug users.

"Once caught, people are reprimanded but if the same people are caught for the second time, their families would receive only their clothes."

Indeed, this did not occur without strong opposition and has been no easy road for Penalosa: During his administration he received more than 100 death threats for his policy, which included ordering building owners to move a few meters from the former main roads or avenues to make way for the construction of sidewalks and streets.

As for Indonesia's diplomatic ties with Colombia, the embassy was retained, even though Colombia has not resumed its embassy office in Jakarta.

"We are not focusing on political issues here," Johan said.

"We want to boost the economic side, business and commerce. The embassy forms a bridge for businessmen from Colombia who are interested in investing in Indonesia. In fact, an Indonesia-Colombia Commerce Chamber is in place, what we need to do is run the show."

Juan Romero Cortes, director and producer of local television station Tele Amiga, said Bogota was safer for foreign nationals than the capital city of neighboring Mexico.

Besides, the country has much to offer. The naturally rich country remains under the radar and does not get much positive coverage, making it less popular than other Latin American countries.

A visa on arrival should be available to woo tourists, Cortes said.

"Our natural biodiversity, nice weather, diverse ethnicities which come with their unique cultural heritages as well as rich culinary influences should be powerful charms for tourists," he said.

"An affordable cost of living, especially for tourists from America, European countries and some Asian countries and our naturally genial people are all here to be discovered."

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