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Residents repaint zebra crossing to protest car-biased Jakarta
The Pedestrian Coalition (Koalisi Pejalan Kaki), a community movement that advocates for pedestrian rights, has repainted a zebra crossing on Jl
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he Pedestrian Coalition (Koalisi Pejalan Kaki), a community movement that advocates for pedestrian rights, has repainted a zebra crossing on Jl. Kebon Kacang in front of the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta as a form of protest against the city's negligence of walking facilities.
As many as eight members of the coalition were busy in the middle of Jl. Kebon Kacang on Friday afternoon. Some of them repainted, while others swept the fading stripes of the zebra crossing.
Near them, a number of black and white posters that read 'Ruwatan zebra cross' (revitalization of the zebra crossing), 'Not in cooperation with the city administration' and 'Respect the rights of pedestrians' were leaning against roadblocks installed to prevent vehicles from passing into one of the lanes. The activity attracted passersby around one of the busiest spots in Central Jakarta.
The coordinator of the group, Alfred Sitorus, said that the action, the second undertaken so far, was a form of protest against the city administration, which had not responded to the coalition's demand for it to repaint faded zebra crossings in 10 different spots.
The 10 spots include crossings over Jl. Agus Salim, Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Cemara in Central Jakarta.
'We sent the letter five months ago, but we have gotten no response until now,' he said.
Alfred said the coalition afterwards decided to make an effort to repaint the crossings by itself, albeit with donations and help from its volunteers and followers. 'We did the same thing on Jl. Agus Salim two weeks ago,' he said.
Alfred said zebra crossings are crucial facilities for pedestrians.
According to Law No. 22/2009 on traffic, pedestrians only have rights to three spaces on the streets: sidewalks, zebra crossings and pedestrian bridges. He said that if the city administration could not protect these three rights, there would be no way for pedestrians to get respect.
Alfred said the activity was also aimed at protesting the Transportation Ministry's upcoming event to celebrate the Road Safety Week held on Sunday.
'The event, which involves spending around Rp 1 billion [US$ 83,542] of the state budget, will only be ceremonial, without any concrete action to make better facilities for pedestrians,' he said.
He added that the members of coalitions in other big cities like Bandung, Yogyakarta, Bogor and Surabaya would also conduct zebra crossing revitalizations next week to protest the same issue.
Walking in Jakarta is no mean feat. Besides lacking facilities, many motorists and motorcyclists tend to disrespect the rights of pedestrians. They park on sidewalks or refuse to stop at zebra crossings to wait for the red light to change to green.
The coalition said that, according to data from the National Police, there are four accidents involving pedestrians in the capital city every week and 18 every day in Indonesia as a whole.
- Actions meant to remind the administration of pedestrian rights
- Activist say letters sent to ask administration to repaint zebra crossings have gone unanswered
- Police try to stop the activity, saying volunteers lack permits
The police briefly tried to stop the activity because they considered it to be disrupting traffic. However, after a dialogue with the protesters, the police allowed them to continue painting the zebra crossing.
Alfred said he admitted that what he and his friends did violate a public order bylaw.
'However, the city administration should also realize its mistake in neglecting our rights,' he said.
One of the volunteers, 27-year-old Sri Mulyatun, said she participated in the activity because she was also a pedestrian. 'Being a pedestrian is dangerous, although I have never had accident,' she said.
The Transportation Agency's Traffic Engineering and Management head, Masdes Arrofi, said the city had allocated a sufficient amount of its budget for revitalizing road markings, including zebra crossings, across the city. 'We allocated Rp 750 million for each municipality,' he said.
Masdes said that his department had also recorded the spots that needed to be repaired. The locations comprise 37 spots in South Jakarta, six spots in East Jakarta, 24 in North Jakarta, six in West Jakarta and 32 in Central Jakarta.
'We also plan to revitalize the road markings at 40 intersections,' he said.
