They may know that the facilities are for public use, but some Jakartans have their own reasons for defacing public facilities.

“I do it for fun. I like the adrenaline rush I get when I’m about to steal a lamp or a road sign,” Taufik said.

He claims to have stolen plastic benches from parks, a traffic cone and other road signs, sometimes on his own and at other times with the assistance of friends.

Although what Taufik does is illegal, he claims he was not willing to stop. “I know I damage public facilities, but I don’t think I will  stop anytime soon. To me it’s entertaining, I have a good laugh the  next day when I see people’s shock,” he said.

The vandal said he felt lucky because he was never caught.

The 2007 bylaw on public order stipulates that whoever scratches, paints or writes on the walls, pedestrian bridges, shelters, public transportation and other public facilities can be sentenced 10 to 60 days imprisonment or pay a minimum Rp 100,000 (US$11.7) to a maximum Rp 20 million fine.

The bylaw also stipulates that those who damage or dismantle fences encircling parks, roads and other public facilities can get a maximum of 180 days imprisonment or pay a maximum Rp 50 million fine.

Jakarta residents’ lack of sense of belonging pervades the capital, manifesting itself in petty vandalism or corrupt mentalities.

In front of Jakarta Police headquarters in Central Jakarta, for example, street vendors use parts of public fencing to open soda bottles, damaging the fences while a simple opener would cost the vendor only a few cents.

The lack of space for informal businesses is another reason for some to make use of public facilities for their own interests.

Agus (not his real name), an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver who always waits for customers close to a shopping center in Central Jakarta, said he and his friends knew that blocking the sidewalks by parking their motorcycles there made life for pedestrians difficult.

“Being an ojek driver is my only source of income, so I have no choice but to be here,” he said.

The ojek drivers use the sidewalk as a base and a place to rest. They have placed an empty water gallon on a flower pot placed at the sidewalk and hung a board on the fence, initially designed to keep street vendors off the pavement.

“The board is to protect us from the dust off the street. I don’t think it will damage the fence. The fence was already missing bars, we didn’t take them,” he said.

Apart from missing lamps or traffic signs, another common sight in Jakarta are the human-size holes in fences along railway tracks.

In Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, for example, the myriad holes are used as shortcuts for people crossing the tracks.

Joni has lived along the tracks for six years. He claimed a hole in the fence had been there since he first settled there. “I don’t know who took away that part of the fence, but now we use it as a way to cross the tracks or get on the trains without waiting in line,” he said.

He added that people used the gaps in the fence usually in the morning to go to work and in the afternoon on their way home.

“This way, they don’t have to take the elevated pedestrian footbridge,” he said.

Joni said that sometimes people using the shortcuts were hit by passing trains, “but that doesn’t stop others from crossing”.

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