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No backpedaling the revolution
It boggles the mind that the likes of Listyo and Ahmad Sahroni, the Commission III vice chair, should feel that the bike lanes are depriving other road users.
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Cyclists from Anak Haram Jalanan Ibukota ride their bikes through the bicycle lane on Jl. Jend. Sudirman on April 24. (-/Firman Suryani)
T
hey say every revolution has its counterrevolution but no one expected that the bike revolution, which just got under way in Jakarta, would have its counterrevolution this early. And that it should be led by National Police Chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo with collaborators in House of Representatives Commission III overseeing law, human rights and security.
During a recent legislative hearing, Gen. Listyo agreed with the commission’s proposal to reverse the Jakarta administration’s policy of designating permanent special lanes for bikers along main roads in Jakarta to encourage the use of bicycles as a mode of transportation.
The general even endorsed the commission’s call to dismantle the new bike lane along the 11.2 kilometer Jl. Thamrin-Sudirman main thoroughfare. Just like that, without discussing it first with the Jakarta administration, or with transportation experts or with the growing bike community?
Thankfully, they don’t call the shots. At least, we don’t think so. Even if they have the authority to force their will, the decent thing to do should have been to discuss it with first the stakeholders. Or are we really going back to the days when police make decisions and then enforce them?
Jakarta already has 63 km of bike lanes, including the one along Jl. Sudirman-Thamrin, and is planning to add 101 km more this year. This is a modest beginning compared to what many other capital cities have done, and the growing bike community in Jakarta feels that this is too slow and that the city could move even faster.
It boggles the mind that the likes of Listyo and Ahmad Sahroni, the Commission III vice chair, should feel that the bike lanes are depriving other road users. Sahroni, the elected representative from the NasDem Party, even suggested imposing limited hours for bikes to use the roads. This reflects either their bias in favor of private vehicles and motorcycles, or their hatred for bicycles.
We don’t dispute their claim that the bike policy should be reviewed, and that the police, the Transportation Ministry and the Jakarta administration should sit down to discuss this. But to order the dismantling of existing bike lanes comes across as an arrogance of power. And Listyo’s proposal that he would send his officers to study how other capital cities develop their bike lane policies sounds more like an excuse for free junkets for his officers.
There are many good reasons why we should encourage people to use their bikes, either for work, leisure or sports, from health to environmental conservation considerations. The COVID-19 pandemic has also led to more people taking up cycling. The Jakarta administration, to its credit, has responded by creating more bike lanes to accommodate this. We already have the Bike to Work Community, launched in 2005, to help campaign the use of bicycles.
The bike revolution is under way and there is no way that we would let it be stillborn. But as the saying goes, if every revolution has its counterrevolution - then that is a sign the revolution is for real.
