‘We Need Ideas to Make Traffic Flow. TransJakarta Could Use More Buses.’

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If you ask Fajar Daniel about different types of concrete, cement and asphalt, the civil engineer will gladly take a break from his work on an overpass project and tell you all about it.

After decades of living and studying in East Java, Fajar moved to Jakarta in July. As a newcomer to the capital, he is adjusting to the constant traffic that is far worse than what he was used to in Surabaya. But traffic hasn’t stopped him from exploring Jakarta by foot and seeing the city’s oldest buildings.

He sat down with My Jakarta and told us what needs to happen in Jakarta to ensure traffic flows smoothly, and he also talked about his side gig at a Web site that only reports positive news from the archipelago.

As a civil engineer, what do you think of traffic and urban design in Jakarta?

In Surabaya, there are only traffic jams at rush hour. Here it’s almost the whole day. There are many government regulations like the 3-in-1 regulation [three people in each car] and a progressive tax if you have more cars that you reasonably should. But the answer is to still add more flyovers in Jakarta.

You’ve been living here for six months now. Do you see anything good about Jakarta?

I still enjoy Jakarta because there are no traffic jams in the morning between the place I live and work. Otherwise, I would probably hate it. I really love to walk around Jakarta. I like to spend my weekends visiting old buildings up in the Kota area, and checking the kinds of foundations they have and how buildings grow old.

What is your favorite building in Jakarta?

It is the tower close to Kota Tua by the Maritime Museum. Next to the tower where there used to be big cannons. And nearby at the Maritime Museum you can see master plans of Batavia.

If you could tell Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo your ideas on fixing Jakarta, what would be your top priority?

He has to get experts together to improve mass transportation and traffic. And I would talk about the regulations for city master planning.

In Indonesia, it is mostly the opposite of Europe and America where areas near water are usually the best and the most expensive. Here, people dump their trash in the river and near the beach, and the people who live near those areas claim the land. The government needs to think about that more.

What can Jakarta do so that 10 years from now traffic here isn’t worse?

We need ideas to make traffic flow. The policies about car ownership are very weak. One family can own seven or eight cars. There are a lot of expired vehicles here that should already be off the road. Mass transport is not that good and TransJakarta could use more buses.

Tell us about the ‘Good News From Indonesia’ Web site that you’re involved in.

After the bombings in Indonesia, the news from here was almost all bad, with many countries issuing travel warnings for Indonesia. Akhyari Hananto started a blog to make Indonesians more confident about their country. Around 2009 he met a friend of mine and we both got involved. The three of us then started the Web site to publish good news.

What do you define as good news?

Achievements that we have in arts, technology, military and education. We upload stories daily. We have a lot of contacts at universities, so we upload a lot of their achievements like hybrid cars. Right now it’s about 600 visitors a day. I was really surprised that there are readers from places like Mexico.

Why did you want to do this?

I really love my country. I feel bad when I hear bad news about my country. I want to show people that not all of Indonesia and Indonesian things are bad. Since I was really young I wanted people to know about the cultural traditions that I love. So we want to bring good news from Indonesia to everyone.

What do you say to people who criticize you for not uploading bad news?

It’s hard to say. We never upload bad stories. In one forum we have military achievements and some people criticized that the Special Forces have violated human rights. But we don’t care what people say, we just want to make Indonesians confident that their country is not bad.

Fajar Daniel was talking to Lydia Tomkiw.

For more information visit: www.goodnewsfromindonesia.org

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