I read the article titled, "The park is not for you sir. I just follow the orders" (the Post, April 7) and would like to contribute the following:

I live in the Ligamas Indah housing complex, Pancoran, South Jakarta. Since 1982, the developer provided us with two lots of land. This land was planted with a number of trees and has been used for public facilities like parks for our area.

However no other facilities or services such as waste disposal were provided with the space. The parks now resemble garbage dumps.

In 1995, the South Jakarta municipal administration built playgrounds for our children, hard courts for tennis and lighting surrounding the facilities.

Every three months or so, a crew from the government came to trim trees, cut the grass and transport the accumulated waste somewhere. After the crisis in 1997 and 1998, their visits became rare.

Complaints to the municipality by the residents due to poor roads, the sewage system and public lighting, illicit no response. Finally residents have taken over the problems, improving the condition of the parks themselves - repairing grassy areas, adding recreational facilities for children and constructing a community hall.

The residents have implemented a system of maintenance three times a week. All related costs are paid by the residents. It is important to note that from the very beginning, the parks were meant to be used by the public.

In fact it is impossible to use them exclusively for residents because of the pressure from surrounding populations lacking similar facilities in their own areas.

Now we face at least two new problems. First, because more and more people visit our parks, vendors arrive to sell various foods like soto ayam (chicken soup), gado-gado (mixed vegetables), and mie Jawa (Java noodle). Unfortunately, they also produce garbage.

Commenting on your article and considering what is happening to our parks, all I can say is: Be happy with any functioning park, public or exclusive, since parks of any size will increase the lung of the city.

However, a public park can only be maintained if the municipal government is fully involved in its maintenance.

A developer will only half-heartedly maintain a park by reducing costs and then declare the park exclusive, to attract buyers for its property.

Meanwhile, residents with a "green attitude" are the ones keeping public parks functioning as they should.

Kodrat Samadikun

Jakarta

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