Horrible Traffic

Yesterday I faced one of worst experience in my history of driving car.

I was supposed to be a Judge of for a Speech Contest held by the Motivators Toastmasters Club which take place at the Mayapada Building, Central Jakarta, which starts at 6.30 pm. 

Usually, it would take me not more than one hour to get to that place. But considering that it was raining quite heavily since 4 pm, I left my office in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, at 4.30 pm.

The streets that I passed were so heavily crowded with cars, motorcycles, bicycles, taxis, big and small buses. Some of the streets were inundated by water at the depth of around 10 centimeters, forcing drivers to move very slowly and stop causing a very bad traffic jam.

At 6.30pm I only reached the street in front of the Hotel Sultan, Central Jakarta, which means that I only reach a half way of my destination, and the vehicles in front of me were almost not moving. 

I tried to call Tantia the Chief Judge at Motivators but not answered so I sent a text message via Blackberry Messenger (BBM) telling her about the ugly situation and apologize that I cannot come to the Club.

After half an hour, I decided to return home by taking the toll road, so I ascended the Semanggi flyover and drove to Jl Gatot Subroto. The traffic was also jammed and I reached the nearest toll gate at 8 pm. Thank God the toll road road was not so crowded.

I reached my house in South Jakarta at 9pm feeling so very tired body and soul.

No flood today

On 17 January rain falls very heavily and continuously inundating some important parts of the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta.

Many parts of the city's downtown area like the Presidential Palace, the HI Roundabout & Fountain, were inundated that President SBY's meeting with Argentinian President Mme. was postpone for a few hours.

Due to this fact, the Governor of Jakarta Joko Widodo has announced Jakarta under state of emergency for ten days until 27 January 2013 which is today. One factor that influenced Jokowi in making such decision was the weather forecast made by the Meteorology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG)  that the rain will fall heavily and continuously and shall reach the highest level on 27 January 2013.

Thank God when I woke up this morning the sun was shining very bright and it goes on the whole day until dusk.

I pray to God so that Jakarta shall not be inundated again like last week.

Photo: Courtesy of PlazaMSN

Jokowi-Ahok 100 Days

Since they were elected last September, Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo a.k.a Jokowi and Vice Governor Basuki a.k.a Ahok have been the "darling" of the mass media. Almost everything they said and done have been reported to the public. 

Although Jokowi-Ahok never set any target for their first 100th. day in offices, which happens to be today, but the news media seems to be very anxious to report about their progress. 

According to news media reports, during the election campaign, Jokowi and Ahok have promised, among others :
1)  Construction of mass transportation to reduce traffic jam : MRT and Monorail
2)  Development of villages and slum area
3)  Distribution of Health card and Smart card, e-ID card

What has been done was the distribution of Health, Smart and E-ID cards. The development of villages and slum area is still being planned, while the MRT and Monorail construction projects are being reviewed and discussed with the Jakarta People's Representative Council..

Their works was obstructed by the continuous heavy rainfall that has widely inundated Jakarta and vicinity last Thursday until Sunday.  

In my opinion it is too early to assess the work of Jokowi-Ahok in just 100 days, considering that there are so many problems that must be solved in Jakarta.

Picture: Courtesy of Kompas

Me & Toastmasters

Last Saturday, I attended a gathering of Indonesian Toastmasters which was held at the Prasetya Mulya Business School in Cilandak, South Jakarta.

The event was organized by the Toastmasters Leadership Institute of District 87 to provide training for members of the Executive Committees (EXCO) of Toastmasters Clubs in Indonesia.

I am not a member of Exco of my club i.e. the Jakarta Toastmasters Club or other clubs, but I was there as Governor of  Area I1 which covers 4 Toastmasters Club : Jakarta TMC, Carsurin TMC, Masterpiece TMC and Sari Husada TMC.

We gathered at 12.30 pm for socialization and lunch, and the training itself started at 1 pm and ended at 6.30  pm.

Me (standing - No.4 from right) and Exco of the Jakarta Toastmasters Club

For those who are not familiar about Toastmasters, I deemed it necessary to explain that Toastmasters is a non profit organization based in California, USA, which provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment for its members to develop their communication and leadership skills (in English) which in turn foster self esteem.

With Fathia (left) & Valeria (right)

Toastmasters came to Indonesia on October 1979, with the setting up of the Jakarta Toastmasters Club. Today, there are 78 Toastmasters Clubs all over Indonesia i.e. Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Bali, Medan, Batam, Riau, Balikpapan, Soroako. And the number of clubs is growing every year.

Toastmasters in Indonesia is part of District 87 of the Toastmasters International, which covers Indonesia, West Malaysia and Brunei.

For further details, please visit the following websites :
- www.jakarta-toastmasters.org
- www.toastmasters.org

If you want to develop and practice your English communication skills, Toastmasters is the answer.

Jakarta the Big Durian - 2013

The city of Jakarta, officially known as the Special Capital Region of Jakarta headed by a Governor, is Indonesia's political, economical and cultural center.

Jakarta is located on the northwest coast of the island of Java, with a population of more than 10 million people, it is the most populous city in Indonesia and in South East Asia, with a land area of 661 Square Kilometers.

Together with the neighboring towns of Bogor, Depok, Tanggerang and Bekasi, Jakarta formed the metropolis of JABODETABEK (JAkarta BOgor DEpok TAnggerang, BEKasi) with a total population of around 28 million people living on a total land area of 6,392 Square Kilometers.

The city has a terrible traffic jam from early morning to late evening not just during work days, but some times during holidays too. Lack of mass rapid transportation has forced most citizens to use their own vehicles i.e. auto cars and/or motor cycles.
An effort has been made to set up a mass public transportation i.e the Transjakarta busway system however considering that it was operated on existing road and limited bus units therefore it failed, so people keep on using their personal vehicle and the roads are getting more and more crowded every day.
The Jakarta government and the central government have planned to develop a mass rapid transportation  (MRT), and a Monorail system.

Further, many parts of the city are heavily  inundated by floods during rainy season, because the level of many parts of the city's land area, especially the northern part, is lower than the sea level, decreasing water reservoir area and clogged waterways.  Although an anti-flood control canal has been built on the eastern part of the city, but it failed to reduce the area effected by the flood.
In every five years, the rain falls much heavier in Jakarta and surrounding area, therefore causing much more devastating floods. The last terrible flood happened in 2007.

Furthermore, the city has so many slum area where the low income citizens i.e. majority of citizens live. beggars/tramps at traffic lights, food hawkers scattered in so many parts of the city, trashes, etc.

Because of the above reasons Jakarta has been given the nick name The Big Durian i.e the name of tropical fruit (picture above) which is full of thorn on the outer skin but contain delicious fruit inside and has a very strong odor which is loved by most Indonesians but probably not by Westerners.

Jakarta can be described as quite similar to the Durian i.e. it does not look good/friendly on the outside but has lots of good things on the inside especially because Jakarta is a Melting Pot of the various people in the country. Most of its citizens come from other parts of Indonesia, they bring along their cultures, languages, foods, etc. to the city.

I have visited many places and I still think Jakarta as the best place for me.

Jakarta in State of Emergency

                        Downtown Jakarta inundated by flood (The Jakarta Globe)

In the last three days the rain falls heavily in Jakarta and neighboring towns of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi.

             President SBY (blue shirt) inspecting flooded Palace (The Jakarta Globe)

And today, Thursday 17 January, the heavy rainfall has caused severe flooding in most parts of the city forcing many government and business offices to close because their staffs cannot come to work.
The media reported that thousands of people in Jakarta and vicinity have been forced to leave their homes, the Presidential Palace was flooded that President SBY (the above photo) has to rescheduled his meeting with Argentinian President from morning to afternoon. The Busway transportation network has to stop its operation at 9.15 am, and trains from out of town must stop at certain train stations that are not flooded, cannot reach the city's downtown.

                                          Flooded residential area (Kompas)

According to an official of the Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysical Agency the rainfall could get worse in the next few days.

Considering the above facts, the Governor of Jakarta Joko Widodo a.k.a Jokowi, has placed the capital city under state of emergency starting today until 27 January 2013. The announcement was made after he discussed with the Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare and the Head of National Disaster Mitigation Agency at his office earlier today.

Under this emergency status, the municipality government to take extraordinary actions to respond to the flooding crisis. According to Jokowi, this is a short term solution for the flood which enable the government to purchase necessary things like toilets, blankets and other needs without going through a tender.

Meanwhile, the Police and the Army has send their men to help victims of the flood. 

Jokowi, the rising Leader

On 5 November 2010 I posted an article titled  " Prospective Leader: Jokowi "  most of the content was actually a copy paste of a blog-post of Unspun of Maverick PR Consultant in Jakarta.

In the blog post, Unspun wrote that Joko Widodo a.k.a Jokowi (51), mayor of Solo, Central Java, for two terms (2005-2010 and 2010-2015) has become a legend because he has shown what one man with integrity and political will can do for a city and, by extension, for the country.

I was not surprised when Jokowi and his running mate Basuki a.k.a Ahok won the first round of election for the governor of Jakarta on 11 July 2012, and final round on 20 September 2012. although they were only supported by minority nationalist parties i.e. the PDIP and Gerindra, each of which own 11 and 6 seats out of the total of 94 seats in the Jakarta regional Parliament.

Congrats and goodluck Jokowi and Ahok.

Bullying of Students in Jakarta

One of the hottest topics in the Indonesian mass media today is the story about the alleged bullying of four new students of the Don Bosco Senior High School in South Jakarta, by 18 of their senior students.

According to The Jakarta Globe, the Jakarta Police have questioned nine of the senior students, seven of which have been named as Suspects.

The Spokesman of the Jakarta Police Sr Comm Rikwanto was quoted as saying that the Police will determine whether to place those students in a detention center or let them stay free but must report regularly to the Police.

He further stated that the bullying was done outside the school compound and after the school's new students orientation program i.e on 24 July 2012.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo said that the school would not be sanctioned if the bullying was not done at the school.

I hope that this alleged bullying case would be processed very soon, in this case the students' young ages and the fact that this is the first time they bullied should be taken into consideration.
I also hope that all schools would adopt a strict anti-bullying policy which punish any students who bullied fellow students by ousting them from the school.

Nevertheless, I am very surprised at the very high profile reporting of this alleged bullying case, considering that high school students in Jakarta have been fighting among themselves in the streets quite often for so many years, and until now the authority still can't prevent them, and news reporters do not seem to be interested to write about them.

Jakarta Social Media Festival

If you are a social media activist, or you want to know what the social media is about, and you are living in Jakarta and vicinity, or you just happened to be visiting Jakarta between 22 and 24 September, you better come to this event which is held at the FX Life X'nter building, Jalan Jendral Sudirman, Central Jakarta.

For details, please visit the website : http://www.socmedfest.com.

I'd like to go there but I'm not sure when, I shall be happy if I can meet you there, for which purpose you may contact my e-mail: harrynizam@gmail.com.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Harry Nizam

The Wasted Monorail Project

As a capital city that has a total population of more than 8.5 million people (2010), Jakarta needs a mass rapid transportation (MRT) system.

For this purpose, the government of former Governor of Jakarta i.e. Sutiyoso has given a license to PT Jakarta Monorail to build and operate a 26 kilometers Monorail Transportation system.

Construction of the project began on June 2004, but was stopped after 13 kilometers of  concrete pillars was erected in 2007 when Sutiyoso ended his office term, because his successor Fauzi Bowo refused to provide a guarantee needed by PT Jakarta Monorail to finance the project.

Since then, the Monorail's concrete pillars remain standing for four years like some kind of wasted monuments on the streets of Jakarta.

Last Monday, Fauzi Bowo announced that his government has decided to stop the Monorail project, and the  government shall compensate PT Jakarta Monorail with the amount of Rp 204 Billion. This is much lower than the Rp 600 Billion compensation requested by the said company.

This is a very sad news for me, because I have been expecting for so many years to ride on the Monorail in Jakarta.

School Students Vs Reporters

Last Friday, some students of State High School No.6 in Kebayoran, South Jakarta, attacked a cameraman of TranTV i.e. Oktaviardi, and took his video cassette, when he was taking pictures of a fighting between students of said High School and neighboring State High School No. 70.

Tempointeraktif reported that on Monday angry reporters from various news media came to High School No.6 to look for the students who attacked Oktaviardi. After they found the student, they beat him badly.

After they know about the reporters' attack, hundreds of other students came to rescue their badly beaten friend, and fought back the reporters.

The Police tried to stop the fight by shooting their guns three times to the air but failed, because their they were outnumbered.

So the reporters ran away to nearby headquarters of the National Police.

According to Kompas six reporters were injured, i.e. Panca Syaukani from Media Indonesia, Yudistiro Pranoto from Seputar Indonesia, Aldi Gultom from Rakyat Merdeka, Wahyu from Elshinta Radio, Anton from MetroTV and Ardhi from Kompas.

This is a very shameful incident which would not have happened if the High School management and the students' parents could control those students, and the Police could prevent the reporters from hanging around the school.

Fauzi Bowo and Mini Skirt

In the last few days, the news media have been reporting about some women who were raped while they were riding public transport in Jakarta.

In reaction to these incidents, Republika reported that last Friday the Governor of Jakarta Fauzi Bowo a.k.a Foke has asked females not to wear Mini Skirt when they ride on public transportation so as not to arouse Sexual desires of male passengers.

This controversial statement has angered female activists who asked others via Twitter to launch protest called Mini Skirt Action tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon at the Jalan Thamrin Fountain Roundabout.

VivaNews reported that the Governor finally realized that what he has said was a mistake and apologize to the public. But unfortunately, damage has been done, Jakarta females have already been hurt by his statement.

Hmmmmmm .......... CRAZY!

Jakarta Temporarily Quiet

From 27 August until 4 September most of the 9.5 million citizens of  Jakarta spend their Eid/Lebaran holidays, around half of them left the city and celebrate in their hometowns.

This exodus will bring some good effects to citizens who stay in Jakarta i.e. the city would become more quiet, almost no traffic jam, and have cleaner environment..

Beside the good things that I mentioned above, citizens who stayed in the city will face some awkward things i.e. they have to do all the works at home because most of their maids a.k.a domestic helpers, left for their hometown for one to two weeks.
Substitute maids are available for temporary hire at the cost ranging from Rp 100.000 to Rp 175.000 per day (minimum 14 days).

Moreover, people's tradition to visit elder members of their family during Eid would make their homes and surroundings empty and unguarded, making them easy prey for thieves to take advantage of the situation.

What I usually do is that whenever I hire a substitute maid I would report to the security guards in my
neighborhood and ask one of the guards to keep an eye on my home.
In this case I would give him tips, and also make sure that I would not leave my home for a very long time..

A Good Time to Buy Indonesian Stock

The index at the Jakarta Stock Exchange, the best performing equity market in South East Asia, has been dropping since last week and on Tuesday it fell more than 6 percent.

But it seems that the situation has improved that The Economic Times reported (below) that now is the good time to buy Indonesian stocks.

I hope that this prediction is not just for a short time.

10 Aug, 2011, 12.06PM IST, Reuters  
Good time now to buy Indonesian stocks: Schroders

JAKARTA: An increasingly uncertain economic outlook in the United States and Europe will have relatively little effect on Indonesia's robust fundamentals, instead offering investors a good opportunity to buy equities in Southeast Asia's largest economy, a Schroders fund manager said. 

Indonesia's main stock market index, Southeast Asia's best performing equity market, has gained around 4 percent this year.

In line with other volatile equity markets, however, Jakarta stocks fell more than 6 percent on Tuesday, as investors worried about the debt crises in the United States and Europe.

"The Indonesian economy should be relatively less impacted but the stock market should be very much correlated with the volatility of the global stock markets," Kiekie Boenawan, head of investment at Schroder Investment Management Indonesia (SIMI), said in an email late on Tuesday.

"It should present a good opportunity to accumulate Indonesian equities as fundamentals are not impacted as much -- relative to other developed economies."
Asian stocks clawed back some lost ground on Wednesday, following a rebound in U.S. shares, after the Federal Reserve made an unprecedented pledge to keep interest rates near zero for at least two years, stemming a global equity rout for the time being.

But economic growth in the archipelago of 17,000 islands is expected to be 6.6 percent this year, and growing slightly higher in 2012.

"The impact on the Indonesian economy will be relatively less due to Indonesia's low exposure to exports and also due to the low leverage of the economy," added Boenawan. "Most companies are experiencing net cash or very little debt.

"Assuming a 6 percent real growth and an average of 5 percent inflation, we could reasonably expect the stock market to deliver around 13 percent growth in return and dividends next year from this level."

TOP HOLDINGS The Jakarta-based fund company was established in 1991. At the end of July, SIMI had $6.9 billion under management, with around 75-80 percent invested in equities and the remaining in fixed income assets.

Investment decisions in each SIMI fund is based upon contributions and ideas from the investment team of analysts and portfolio managers.

Astra International , Indonesia's biggest listed firm and main vehicle distributor, Bank Mandiri and Bumi Resources are among the main holdings of its equity funds, according to data on its website.
Property stocks are a top pick for Schroders' Indonesian funds, due to the rising levels of middle-income earners and low interest rates, Boenawan said.

Indonesia's central bank held its benchmark overnight policy rate at 6.75 percent on Tuesday for a sixth straight month after July inflation slowed to a 14-month low.
"Property sectors have also been experiencing a surge in demand and prices mainly on the back of rising middle income affluence, low interest rate, and rising direct investments in Indonesia," Boenawan said.

Indonesia expanded at a robust 6.5 percent on year in the second quarter of 2011, at a time when the outlook for the global economy is increasingly uncertain.

"Despite the rising demand and prices in the real physical market, the prices of the property stocks have yet to fully reflect its fundamentals," he added.

Least favoured Indonesian equities for Schroders include telecommunication firms due to a crowded business space, and cement companies.

"For telecommunication, the industry is crowded and has been experiencing fierce price competition since the last 3 years," Boenawan said.

"For cements, although demand is quite robust especially given the rising property prices, the industry has not been able to raise prices further without inviting competition from imported clinkers."

Giving Charity on the Streets

The municipality government of Jakarta has been trying for many years to get rid of Beggars, Tramps, Car wipers from the streets of the city, with little success.

For which purpose, By-Law (Perda) No 7/2008 regarding Public Order was issued in 2008, but it does not seem to be effective.

According to Berita Jakarta, the Jakarta municipality government will be serious in enforcing the By-Law in two stages.       

First, a Socialization period from 20 July (yesterday) until 15 August in which violators will get light sanction. 

After that, there will be an enforcement period from 16 August until 29 August, in which violators will be sent directly to social institution and will not be released until Ied Ul Fitr. So, they will celebrate Ied Ul FItr in Social Institution.

Frankly speaking, I think that this effort would work during the above enforcement period, however I am not sure how will it be in the future.

As long as those Beggars, Tramps etc. are still available on the streets, and no serious efforts to prevent them from doing so,  it would be very difficult to expect that the By-Law will be effective.

Colson in Jakarta

Yesterday, Sunday 10 July 2011, I met with one of my closest on-line friend namely Colson a.k.a Jerry van den Brink, who wrote interesting posts on his blog http://pelopor.nl from Holland.

As we have both promised, at 12 noon I came to the house of Colson's son i.e Igmar in Kebayoran, South Jakarta, where he stayed during his visit here.

The sun was shining very bright, but unfortunately the traffic was not as enjoyable as I have predicted, probably because it was the last day of school holidays.therefore parents were taking their children out. Many roads in Jakarta were jammed.

Although it was the first time that I met Colson, however I felt comfortable talking to him, probably because we both shared Socialist Democratic ideas, and we have been communicating with each other almost every day i.e. by giving response to each others blog posts for quite a long time.

I drove him through the streets of Jakarta starting from Cipete, Blok M, Asean Secretariat, Jalan Sudirman, Jalan Thamrin, Monas, Istiqlal Mosque, Cathedral Church, the Dutch World WarII Cemetery and lunch at a Balinese restaurant in Ancol Beach resort. We talked about lots of things including politics, justice etc.

From Ancol we passed the State Palace and Presidential office complex, but when we visited that National Museum, it was already closed.

Colson invited me for a dinner with his son and family but unfortunately it was already 6 pm when we reached the house of Colson's son, which is late for me because I have to go home early. 

Happy Birthday Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital and the largest city of Indonesia, with a population of 9,580,000 people (2010 census), living in a land area of 661 square kilometers.

The administrative status of Jakarta is a Province consisting of five municipalities i.e. Central Jakarta, South Jakarta, West Jakarta, East Jakarta, North Jakarta, and one regency i.e the Thousand Islands Regency. 

  
For details about Jakarta, please read here.

Now that Jakarta is 484 years old, I hope that its present and future governments would be more serious and do their very best to drastically improve the overall infrastructure of the city especially congested traffic, renovate slum area, prevent floods, build much more green area and longer roads, i.e by building Mass Rapid Transportation (MRT), low cost public housing, stop building shopping malls in crowded area, revitalize green area, road pavements and riversides etc.

Photo :  Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Protection of Traditional Markets in Jakarta

The rapid growth of modern Supermarkets and Mini-markets in Jakarta have been protested by the owners of traditional markets and small shops who feared that those modern markets would endanger their businesses.

In order to provide better protection for the Traditional market, the  Governor of Jakarta Fauzi Bowo last Wednesday submitted a draft of revision of By-law No. 2/2002 regarding Markets to the Jakarta House of Representatives.

According to Berita Jakarta, the revision was actually planned in 2006, but postponed because waiting for the President Regulation No 112/2007 about Modern Shop and Traditional Market Management, and the Trade Minister Regulation No 53/M-DAG/Per/12/2008 about Modern Shop and Traditional Market Management.

Pos Kota reported that the draft By-Law stipulated that Mini Markets with a building area of 200 square meters should be located at least 400 square meters away from a Traditional market.

While Supermarkets with a building area of 2,000 square meters should be located around 2 Kilometers away from a Traditional market.

I hope that the draft of the revision of By-Law will be accepted soon, so that the owners of traditional markets and small shops would not be worried anymore.  

Photo: Courtesy of Berita Jakarta.

A Huge Earthquake in Jakarta and Vicinity

President SBY's Special Staff for Social and Disasters Management Andi Arif told radio audience last Sunday that an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.7 on the Richter Scale could hit Jakarta and vicinity.

The Jakarta Globe quoted Andi Arif as saying that the epicenter of such earthquake would be located in the Sunda Strait (that separates the islands of Java and Sumatera). 

In reaction to this statement, the Governor of West Java which borders with Jakarta, asked the public not to be panic. He said that he will coordinate with the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) to obtain more accurate data.  

Further, a member of the House of Representatives criticized Andi Arif  for making people panic with such prediction  He said that Andi Arif should communicate it with the proper authorities i.e BMKG and the Ministry of  Mineral Resource and Energy. 

Considering that we are already very sick and tired of all those terrors caused by mysterious bombs, the so called NII, etc, I hope that government officials would not make any statements that would make the public panic.

The Arrest of a Gigolo in Jakarta

Mustofa (27), a Gigolo, was arrested by the Jakarta Police for allegedly attempted to chloroform his female customer Ami (30) in room No. 423 at the Mega Anggrek Hotel, West Jakarta yesterday afternoon.

Ami was introduced to Mustofa by her Pimp friend Adit who arranged them to meet in the hotel  room. 

But after they both met, they failed to reach an agreement on the sex tariff. Mustofa was disappointed that he tried to chloroform Ami so he can steal her belongings. Later on, Ami was able to coax Mustofa back into a romantic mood, allowing her to alert the hotel’s staff.

The Police has interviewed Mustofa and Ami, and is still looking for Adit the Pimp. Mustofa told the Police that he worked as a Masseur at a Massage Parlor owned by Adit.

I hope that this incident would make ladies think twice before they want to meet a Gigolo.