T

his is a comment on an article titled '€œThe dilemma facing Jakarta'€™s incoming governor'€, (The Jakarta Post, Oct. 4, p6), by Hendro Suwito.

I refer particularly to a quote: '€œJakarta has practically been neglected for the last 30 to 35 years. Since the phenomenal governor Ali Sadikin left his post in 1970s, Jakarta has never had any vision-driven governor with the guts and resources to massively resolve its chronic problems, especially its public transportation woes.'€

I do remember that after Ali Sadikin left his governorship, traffic woes were already beginning to build up, although new roads were intermittently built to ease traffic jams in certain parts of the city.

What happened next was that then-president Soeharto invited about five European transport specialists to Jakarta to undertake studies and make recommendations as to what could be done to alleviate the ongoing nightmare then. Their studies and observations took them about four to six months.

When the final reports and recommendations were completed and handed to Soeharto, the following options were recommended: two parties favored building more roads; two others preferred improving and using more buses (also reducing the use of cars entering the city); while another one preferred mass rapid transit (MRT) systems.

Soeharto was not in favor of the expensive MRT option then, while the question of buses was shot down leaving wide open the chance of building more roads and toll roads. Ask any old Jakartan and they will tell you that bajaj built most of the toll roads. No?

In that era, it was not a question of whether the governor was bold or not but it was Soeharto who had the last say.

And the MRT groundbreaking was launched by Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo when he was the governor of the city. I am very sure that Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama will complete the first MRT line in the capital.

When it is completed, I have no doubt whatsoever that there will be extensions to other suburban places '€” making travel a joy. At that time other cities will follow suit with the aim of reducing their traffic jams, thus enlarging the vision of a somewhat brave and outspoken man called Ahok.

Luwanto
Jakarta