The “outer planet”. That’s what many people jokingly call Bekasi regency in West Java despite its status as Southeast Asia’s largest industrial area. The nickname came about because it sometimes takes hours for commuters to travel between Bekasi and Jakarta, or vice versa, mainly due to damaged roads that cause traffic congestion, particularly during rainy days.

In response to complaints from Bekasi residents about this issue, five candidate pairs competing in the upcoming Bekasi regent election to be held on Feb. 15 are trying to win the hearts of 1,974,831 voters by offering promises to repair damaged roads in a bid to ease traffic congestion.

Bekasi General Elections Commission (KPU) commissioner Suhana said Bekasi was an industrial area frequented by many heavy trucks and containers every day.

“It [Bekasi] is extremely crowded in busy hours, usually every morning and afternoon, because most of the people go to several certain industrial areas,” Suhana told The Jakarta Post.

Two candidates are independent tickets, namely labor activist Obon Tabroni and running his mate Bambang Sumaryono, who came up with the abbreviation “Obama” to mimic former United States president Barack Obama. There is also the Iin Farihin and Mahdfudz Al-Hafidz ticket, who style themselves “IMAM”.

Obon’s campaign team leader Nono Mitsuba said Obon-Bambang would build alternative roads to ease congestion since there was only one main route to get to the industrial areas.

Nono added that Obon-Bambang aimed to repair potholes to reduce puddles of water. “These potholes lead to congestion,” Nono said, adding that Obon-Bambang hoped to win the labor vote. Bekasi is home to more than 5,000 companies, 40 percent of which are foreign. Around 60 percent of Bekasi residents are workers working in seven industrial areas such as Cibitung, Jababeka, Ejip, MM 2100 and Hyundai.

The Iin-Mahdfudz ticket offered a plan to widen roads. “The congestion happens because the width of the roads can’t accommodate the number of vehicles. The solution is to widen the roads and rearrange spatial management,” the pair’s team leader Herman Ahmad said.

Meanwhile, incumbents Neneng Hasanah Yasin-Eka Supriatmaja promise to build several underpasses at certain congestion points, including at the exit of the Cibitung toll gate and around the Cibitung and Lemah Abang traditional markets, said campaign team secretary Son Haji.

The pair, Son went on to say, has also promised incentives of Rp 1 million [US$74] per month to every community unit (RT) and neighborhood unit (RW). The pair also hope to create 5,000 new entrepreneurs.

The religious figure Sa’duddin and prominent musician Ahmad Dhani are also running together and have pledged to develop mass transportation to reduce congestion. “We don’t want Bekasi to be like Jakarta where there are too many people and the city is not well-managed,” spokesman Ramdan Alamsyah said, raising his optimism that the pair could attract young voters and Muslim voters.

The fifth candidate pair, Meilina Kartika Kadir-Abdul Kholik, also promise to build an integrated road system, improve the quality of public transportation and build a park-and-ride facility.

“The improvement of roads will make the traffic flow more smoothly, while good public transportation will encourage people to switch from private cars to public modes of transportation,” Meilina-Abdul campaign team leader Yudhi Darmansyah said.

All candidates will elaborate further about their programs in a debate on Feb. 6. The debate will be aired on Kompas TV.