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Off-roaders shift gears for humanitarian causes
Seeking traction: A rescue car traverses a muddy road during the Jakarta floods in early January
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Seeking traction: A rescue car traverses a muddy road during the Jakarta floods in early January. (Courtesy of IOF)
Off-roaders may take up the pastime either for prestige or the adrenaline rush. However, the competitive arena or the enterprising course may have changed direction. The 4x4 adventurers still into the same adrenaline rush are now also driving along the path of a humanitarian mission.
The recent floods in Greater Jakarta saw a mobilized humanitarian tilt involving volunteers, including those under the coordination of the Indonesian Off-Road Federation (IOF).
The federation established four emergency response posts, one each located in West Jakarta, East Jakarta, South Jakarta and West Java.
Although three posts have already subsequently been dismantled, the one in the Kemang area of South Jakarta remains in operation. The Kemang post aims to give help in post-flood recovery services in several areas, as well as monitor the ongoing missions in West Java and Banten.
“Several districts have been affected by flash floods and landslides in West Java and Banten,” IOF official Julian “Jeje” Johan told The Jakarta Post at a café on Jl. Pangeran Antasari, next to Kemang Village.
The café is part of a large motorcycle showroom building where the disaster mitigation post is housed.
“The owner of the building, who is an IOF member, provides a space for us to carry out our work,” said Jeje, as he is known among his fellow off-roaders.
The IOF team, in coordination with the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) and the National Search and Rescue Agency, deployed some 200 off-road vehicles and up to 50 rubber boats, according to Jeje.
“We were in the frontlines of the evacuation work because we have the equipment to break in for escape access. However, off-road cars have their limitations. They cannot go through water more than 1.5 meters deep. In this case, we will use rubber boats,” he said.
Meanwhile, when the waters subsided and dispersed, the off-road vehicles were still required in some locations because of piled-up mud.
The flooding on New Year’s Day, which was triggered by the extremely heavy rainfall that also affected parts of West Java and Banten, reportedly displaced more than 31,000 people and claimed at least 67 lives – 16 in Jakarta – by Jan. 7.
The federation was also said to have coordinated public aid in the form of used clothing, medicines, infants’ needs, food, drinks and cleaning equipment.
Social and humanitarian missions were managed by one of three divisions in the IOF, the other two being about competitions and tourism.
Having been introduced to the off-road world by his father, Jeje has done well in competitions and has three times won national championship titles in off-road racing.
His most recent international participation was in the 2018 Asia-Pacific Rally, when he finished in fifth position.
He was among some 400 IOF volunteers – including some from the IOF’s affiliate members – deployed in the Jakarta floods.
When the humanitarian work is finished, he is to start preparing for a different but familiar challenge as a national competition kicks off the 2020 season, for which he says he will focus on the rally category.
Meanwhile, fellow off-road enthusiast Sony Soemarsono said he did not have any competitions on his agenda. In fact, he said he never does, as he has been off-roading since 2011 purely as a hobby.
Sony, who is the general manager at JAK TV, was not among those doing volunteer work either, probably because of his office managerial tasks, but he said he was planning humanitarian aid for landslide victims in Lebak, Banten, with fellow off-roaders in the Journalist 4x4 community.
“We are still sorting out what kind of aid to deliver to Lebak,” he told the Post.
With news media being its core business, the community, which has some 30 members, has the leverage to mobilize support from corporate partners, as they have done in the past.
“Three years ago, we went to Cibatu [in Bogor], where we built a reading hut in a remote village. In 2017, we got involved after a fire in the Baduy area,” Sony said, referring to a community of people living in the deep terrain of the Banten enclave.
“We brought donations from our partners – food, farming equipment, funds. The terrain was difficult. Only off-road vehicles could get through,” he said.
While getting satisfaction from helping people in need, the aid program seems to have paved the way for Sony’s passion for wildlife that he said he has built since high school.
