Busway thru Pondok Indah: a long way to go

It was in the news around 3 weeks ago, how the denizens of Pondok Indah, one of the main upmarket communities in Jakarta where the celebrities, corrupt officials, and other rich bastards reside, decided that they are totally against the construction of the Transjakarta terminals in and around Pondok Indah.

The argument they brought is that, such a construction would need to sacrifice the trees in the lanes of Pondok Indah, and since there would be 4 lanes instead of two, the road would become smaller and traffic jams would surely entail.

As if they really care about trees, huh? Since when do they start taking notice of the upcoming Global Warming or even Al Gore’s movie??? I really question their nerve to bring up that argument, bcoz it’s filthy rich ppl like them who should take the most blame from the Climate change!

Seriously, there must be a handful of them who has a powerful position in the government yet has done nothing to stop the illegal logging in Kalimantan. And what about all the celebrities, who live a high-life in Starbucks or Embassy everyday? A cup of coffee in Starbucks is too expensive for most Jakartans! I myself have never bought anything from Starbucks (though it’s due to my allergy to coffee, apart from it being pricey).

So how can I, or we the communities living in Jakarta suburbs be perfectly sure abt their motive when we pose them the question: Do you seriously care abt saving the trees?

The truth is, yes, if we sacrifice the green in Pondok Indah, the name of “Pondok Indah” would have to be replaced with “Pondok Macet” or any other stupid appellations I could come up with.

Yet still, having a Transjakarta bus corridor passing thru Pondok Indah for the last stop in Lebak Bulus would be very much essential for us living in the suburbs or even outside of Jakarta, as the Lebak Bulus subdistrict is located merely 200 metres away from the Jakarta-Tangerang border. And when we think about it, having a bus stop in Lebak Bulus may even inspire having a busway corridor outside of Jakarta into Ciputat, Bintaro, BSD, Pamulang, or even Tangerang city one day!!

I have lived in Singapore long enough to understand that a much more comfortable transportation is defined as not having to change transportations so often to commute from one end of Singapore in Changi, to the other end in Jurong East. In Japan, they have a perfect metro system that allows the Japanese to commute from one end of Japan in Hokkaido to the other end in in Kyushu without having ever to board a ferry even once!

I know it would be a long way to go for Indonesians due to our lag in technological advances in comparison to Singapore and Japan. But if we don’t start improving our transport system now, when are we gonna start, then?