Cars, Interrupted

"Do you want to have a car?". If we ask this question to every Indonesian, I bet the answer is "yes". 

I want to raise an issue of car and traffic now. I live in Jakarta, the most polluted city, and yes the city with the worst traffic jam in Indonesia, in my opinion. Everyday I witness traffic jam, on my way to shuttle car. I work in a suburb, actually, in BSD area. So, the journey to my office is quite smooth. Most people go to work from suburb to downtown. I am from downtown to suburb. So, I am against the current. But along the journey, what I see is gridlock everywhere. Even in highway, Oh My God! Highway is supposed to be free from jam. But it is all the same. I begin to think, what the smurf happened here? (okay, it's the effect of watching The Smurfs, I am smurfying every smurf, okay smurf again, smurf, I mean, sorry). 

One answer of the question is because we have tons of cars here in Jakarta. Meanwhile, the public transportation is very poor. Well, we may have Transjakarta. But, is it comfortable enough? In rush hour, Transjakarta is very crowded, and the bus is oftenly not on time. We spend much time longer using this means of transportation. There are also Kopaja, Metromini, and Angkot. But hey, it is not air-conditioned, messy, and a lot of pickpockets sometimes. The worst is, these buses sometimes transfer you to the other one. If you say it is comfortable, please stand up, please stand up :D.

Comfort is what people get from having a car. And it seems that government supports the idea of people having a car. Loan condition for car is pretty much easy. With the down payment of approximately 10% of car prices, and installment up to 5 years, middle up to upper class level can buy a car. No wonder, in Jakarta, or may be in other big cities in Indonesia, one family can have more than one car. One for daddy going to work, one for kid going to school, one for mommy going shopping. Oh my, how much do you earn every month? *gobsmacked. Aaaannnndddd, okay I am getting impatient, there will be booming of cheap cars here in Indonesia. For example these:

This is Tata Nano car. Made in India and the price is only Rp. 25.000.000,-. It will be released here this 2012. I am sure we will see these frogs striding on the road in a few months.

Esemka car. The price is Rp. 75.000.000,- up to Rp. 125.000.000,--. Our beloved parliament members have bought these cars. Whereas, I believe they already have one or two cars in their garages. Aren't they aware that they promote people to buy more cars? I am not saying that I am not proud of this made in Indonesia product. I am proud of them. But, please, it is not a good moment to create cars. I will be more proud if you guys create train (okay, it is too much),  hydrogen car is better and less polluted, sophisticated bike may be, bike that can go 60 KM/ hour, or hoverboard, like in Back to The Future. Curious what hoverboard is? Here it is:

                     
 It is a flying skateboard and it can walk on the water too. Cool isn't it?

Yeah, we have to think about the more developed mass transportation system here in Indonesia, especially Jakarta. I really wish we had MRT. It is fast and it can accommodate many people. Government also should restrict the loan for cars. There must be set of condition people should have before buying a car. Such as in Singapore, the tax for private car is super expensive. There is also electronic road pricing there. And people who will buy car there must have Certificate of Entitlement as a warrant. Quite strict, right? No wonder, this neighbor country is free from traffic jam.

Well, I am not a green peace activist, but I am really concerned with environment. Let us pray that our mass transportation system is better, so we do not need to buy cars. If you want to buy one, I suggest you buy the secondhand car. It is cheaper and you'll save the environment because you prevent the company to produce more cars. And please, do not have more than a car in a house. Lastly, go biking to work or even walking. It is much healthier for our body!