A line of bemo await passengers in Central Jakarta. (JG Photo)
The days of the pollution-belching, three-wheeled bemo may finally be numbered, the Jakarta city administration said on Wednesday.
“We hope by 2011 there will be no bemo on the streets of Jakarta,” said Riza Hasyim, deputy head of the Jakarta Transportation Agency.
Riza said that according to a 1996 gubernatorial decree the bemo were illegal.
Bemo are a fixture of the Jakarta cityscape. The unique vehicles seat four to five people relatively comfortably, but often hold as many as nine passengers.
Riaza said Jakarta Police and Public Order Agency officers would begin impounding the vehicles and destroying them after a warning period had expired.
Aliman Aat, a city councilor from Commission B, which oversees economic affairs, said the council supported the plan.
“The bemo do not have permits to operate in Jakarta so they are illegal,” he said, adding that the city council will allocate the required funds in its revised budget.
Aliman said the bemo, which now operate primarily in and around Bendungan Hilir (Benhil), Tanah Abang and Karet in South Jakarta, were bad for the environment and traffic congestion.
He said efforts to remove the vehicles from the city’s streets had begun in 1996 with the freezing of operating permits for 1,096 bemo.
Taufik, another city councilor, said the administration had been unable to rid the city of bemo because the vehicles were often operated by street thugs known as preman.
Bemo drivers spoken to by the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday, however, said they believed the local government’s decision was unfair.
“They never explained to us why we are illegal. Is it because of environmental concerns? Are the vehicles ugly? Tell us what is wrong with the bemo and we can fix it,” said Mia, from the City’s Poor People Network (JKRM).
Samsul, one of about 100 bemo drivers in Benhil, said he had been a bemo driver for 15 years after moving from Indramayu, West Java, to find a better life in Jakarta.
Although he was aware of the government plan to eradicate all bemo, he said he was illiterate and had nowhere else to go. He said despite the 1996 ban, a number of new drivers had recently begun working as bemo operators.
“I learned how to drive a bemo from my uncle who brought me to Jakarta,” he said. “He has returned to Indramayu because of illness.”
Samsul said he earned Rp 30,000 ($3.20) each day after covering the cost of renting the vehicle and buying gasoline. He said it was tough to make a living to support his unemployed wife and two children. “But there are other drivers with more mouths to feed,” he added.
Muhammad Yusuf, 16, lives in Pejompongan and uses bemo. However, he admitted that bemo is not the only means of transport that he rely on.
“I can travel with bemo, angkot, anything nowadays, so I would not be too upset if one day bemo are not operating anymore” he said.
According to the Jakarta Bemo Driver Community (PBJ), there are around 1,000 active bemo in the capital, with one bemo usually shared between two drivers.
No comments:
Post a Comment