H

aving a green park where kids can run and play, where old people can sit and enjoy the laughter of the young generation is just a dream buried under the grand malls and hotels in a big city.

Having lived for four years in this so-called city of culture, Yogyakarta, it is fitting for me to say that this is a city of malls and hotels. In 2011 when I first came here, I found this a friendly city, the well-known city of students.

As time has passed, I have witnessed the awful development of this city. Giving a big chance to investors to come and invest in this city is a ubiquitous reason for the existence of hotels and grand malls here. Those hotels stand grandiosely among the so-so homes. The vehicles belonging to the hotels use the roads as parking lots.

This city is no longer friendly, especially for pedestrians and bicyclists. The road is full of cars and motorbikes. Most of the time motorists kill the right of pedestrians to cross at pedestrian crossings.

Ask the older generation of Yogyakarta about the difference between then and now. The air, the traffic jams, life, everything is different. I am not sure what exactly is in the minds of those who fill this city with those awesome yet harmful buildings. Don'€™t they think about the sustainability of life? Life is the harmony between humans and nature. When people think that they have power over nature, this is the result.

My question is why is it so easy for the government to allow companies to plant those iron trees? And why is it so urgent for them to put their icon of success even on a very small street? As part of a generation that demands harmony, I would choose to turn some of those hotels and malls into public parks where people can enjoy their free time by making friends with nature.

If the government keeps on allowing the building of iron castles, I think the identity of this city will change. The well-known angkringan with its traditional characteristics will slowly become an icon of luxury. In the end, the disparity between the poor and the rich will be so huge that this city will lose the soul of love.

I think this Indian proverb is right: Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money.

Liliana
Yogyakarta