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Travelers complain about SBY's 'blusukan'
Down to earth: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono greeted Idul Fitri travelers during an inspection to monitor preparedness at Kampung Rambutan bus terminal in Jakarta on Monday
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Down to earth: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono greeted Idul Fitri travelers during an inspection to monitor preparedness at Kampung Rambutan bus terminal in Jakarta on Monday. (Antara/Andika Wahyu) (Antara/Andika Wahyu)
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span class="inline inline-none">Down to earth: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono greeted Idul Fitri travelers during an inspection to monitor preparedness at Kampung Rambutan bus terminal in Jakarta on Monday. (Antara/Andika Wahyu)
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, accompanied by Vice President Boediono and several Cabinet ministers, visited some of the capital's main railway and bus stations on Monday to greet travelers who were departing for their hometowns to celebrate the Idul Fitri holiday.
The President said he wanted to make sure the nation's public transportation was well prepared to serve travelers. 'Keep up security and safety. How is your family? You can take your days off later, now you must serve the people. I appreciate it. Good luck,' the President said to the driver of the Bengawan train bound for Surakarta, Central Java, at the Pasar Senen railway station in Central Jakarta.
After visiting Pasar Senen station, the President and his entourage visited Kampung Rambutan bus station in East Jakarta, one of Jakarta's largest bus terminals.
Hundreds of passengers were trying to reach Yudhoyono and shake his hand, exacerbating the gridlock inside the bus station for about an hour. Kampung Rambutan is notorious for its congestion and chaos, which had been worsened by the flocking holiday travelers.
The flows of incoming and outgoing vehicles were also halted for a few hours due to the President's visit. The traffic on the street surrounding the terminal was also affected.
Presidential security protocol and public enthusiasm over his visit caused an unnecessary inconvenience for some travelers.
'I can't believe that we needed to pass a metal detector to enter a bus terminal. And my bus was late because it was stuck at the terminal's entrance waiting for the President's visit to be over,' Suyatno, 27, a traveler from Brebes, said, as quoted by Antara news agency. 'Not that I don't like it, but what's the point of blusukan if it only causes a traffic jam?,' he said.
Blusukan is a Javanese term popularized by Jakarta governor Joko Widodo to refer to his habit of talking directly to the public and to low-ranking officials to improve the quality of public service.
Another traveler, Helmy Hermawan, from Bandung said that it would be better for the President to delegate bus station inspections to his subordinates. 'He has many ministers. At least a minister would not have to bring presidential security guards that cause traffic jams,' he told Antara.
On Sunday, Yudhoyono visited the Tanjung Priok Sea Port in North Jakarta, where he greeted hundreds of travelers aboard the Navy's KRI Banda Aceh-593 bound for Tanjung Emas Port in Semarang, Central Java.
Most Indonesian Muslims, who account for the majority of the country's population, return to their hometowns to celebrate Idul Fitri with their families. Financial strains have forced middle class citizens in big cities such as Jakarta and Surabaya to ride motorcycles, though the journey to their hometown could be hundreds of kilometers long.
State-owned railway operator PT KAI president director Ignatius Jonan said that three days before Idul Fitri, the number of passengers for middle- and long-distance train trips had reached 312,000, up 26 percent from the average.
He said the number of homebound travelers departing from Pasar Senen station had peaked on Sunday, when 19,000 passengers departed from the station. 'The figure was up 80 percent from the previous year.'
During Friday and Saturday, or day 6 and day 5 before Idul Fitri on Aug. 8, the National Police recorded 60 deaths in 224 traffic accidents, mostly involving motorcycles. The figures have alarmed the government, which had launched numerous measures to limit the number of motorcycle travelers as part of its effort to reduce the number of accident victims.
The Transportation Ministry, for example, had disbursed Rp 25 billion (US$2.43 million) to deploy large trucks to carry motorcycles for free. Some of the funds were also used to subsidize state transportation operators, such as PT KAI and shipping firm PT Pelayaran Nasional Indonesia (Pelni), which received compensation for transporting motorcycles from Jakarta to other regions for free.
In 2012, a total of 5,233 road accidents were recorded between the span eight days before to eight days after Idul Fitri, killing 908 people and injuring more than 6,000 others. The accident number represented an increase of 10.3 percent from 2011 when 4,744 accidents were recorded. As many as 72 percent of 2012's accidents involved motorcycles.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that the number of exodus victims in 2012 had reached an alarming level.
'The number of traffic fatalities during exodus season alone in 2012, which was 908, was higher than the number of those killed by natural disasters during the whole year, which stood at 641 lives. This is, of course, a tragedy,' he said in a statement released on Monday.
