think!archipelago human interest I cityscape I landscape I architecture I art
V1 Feb 2013
A worker breaks rock with hammer and chisel.
think!archipelago is a quarterly publication owned and run by Purnadi Phan Photography. The content is entitled to Purnadi Phan Photography’s intellectual property, including but not limited to text, photographs, graphics, design and arrangement. Contributors retain copyright interest in their respective stories, photographs and other proprietary contents. Regardless having verified and published articles of utmost accountability, neither owner nor contributors can accept responsibility or liability for reliance by any person on any of the information written in this publication.
Editor’s note Greetings to all of you discerning skeptics. As I walked down the road thought to never exist in such a remote place in otherwise the most populous island in Indonesia, I cannot help but wonder how many places like this life has kept away from us, and how much we know about the truth we live with for so long. So we set out on a journey while carrying a vision of modern journalism, one that instead of shaping general opinion, challenges you to be consistently inquisitive, more so that you will eventually be skeptical. After all, currently everyone is a journalist in their own rights. This fights exploitation incurred by the established media, yet convoluted truths run through all information canals, which requires our eclectic thinking more than ever. Rural population sell whatever they find within reach in exchange for a meager pay. If any, happiness is found in the face of those who barely make ends meet, like what is best pictured in the article section 1. The dynamics of the Big Durian has never failed to attract our attention. We watch closely the painstaking development of this city amid vested interests. The most prosperous city in Southeast Asia is reeling to the wrong side of the modernization, the city boom. And we save the best treat for last, a story and depiction of a place where its existence has since been under the radar, as we took the road least traveled. Now, does anyone wonder the origin of the word archipelago? Purnadi Phan Editor in chief
Contributors
Tiwi Iwit Creative coordinator & marketing overseas at PT Okta Sejahtera Insani, an event organizer company, she would most likely ask about SWOT analysis in every conversation. She sees SWOT in us all.
deanto A corporate darling for his knack for designing company website and logo, he always aspires to be one of a kind. The selfproclaimed creativepreneur breeds a unique style as he runs demomo fashion street for kids.
AIN A decade of experience in graphic design, he is renowned in pro digital imaging for his principle of simple and neat. One of his designs is the stunning giant cover in the magazine’s website and facebook page.
Contents P4 Rock workers of the south coast
P13 Jakarta under construction
P15 Sing ago
P20 The road least traveled
An eight-hour trip from Jakarta brought us to a small town in Surade district of Sukabumi regency, West Java. Our journey continued 30Km southwest across stony path to a stretch of hill overlooking a river where the beauty nature could best afford blended with the complexity life had brought upon human beings. Poor infrastructure coupled with extreme terrain resulted in hours of additional traveling time, which is the reason only a few outsiders had set foot on this nearly inaccessible place by common mode of transportation. Here, as we spent days on a mission of studying geological and topographical aspects of the surrounding hills and the river down in the middle that streams out southward to the Indian Ocean, I became more intrigued by the daily scenes of the people who eked out a living on this remote land. Those are scrambled pieces of a story that tells about hardship, greed, faith, deception and struggles for a hope of a better tomorrow. It is also here that reality puts inhabitants’ traditional reverence to nature and pressing means to survive on a collision course. When residents of a specific location live in persistent isolation not only because of geographical difficulties, but primarily of purported policy of negligence, they are left with little or no choice to make to make ends meet. This is a situation that resembles those of many places in Indonesia – the fourth-biggest country in the world by population – where the length of paved road is disparately scant that it cripples the opportunity for development.
P4 Article section 1 Due to concerns about the sensitivity of the subject, some of the actual names of places and people found in this article were not explicitly revealed.
Drought season that began in May put the 10AM sun sky high early on with scorching heat as if it was already midday. Some rock workers excused themselves from fasting, which is understandable considering the arduous work they have to sustain through the day. It was unlikely to see anyone at the site who performed the religious task on the month like other Muslim followers do. Unless, you are the landowner who for most of the time gave orders and supervised the men, like Ependi. Shunning retirement, the old man still came to his “office” shack, sitting on bamboo stand. There appears to be no certain treatment toward people who have reached their 60s. Besides, for someone who owns a land that has a considerable amount of stone beneath, and while the demand is there on the wait, a grin on Ependi’s face as he gazed to the leaving truck showed that life is good for business is good.
Worker takes firm foothold. He said that he has been receiving order from a neighboring head of village some hundreds cubic meters of rocks in preparation for road construction project. In addition, he has been supplying materials to the district-level Transportation Agency for annual provincial road maintenance project. The accumulation of both demands, he believed, keeps business on the run for the entire year. According to the locals, this area is the only source of rock materials for the region. Surade district receives stable supply needed to initiate various infrastructure projects throughout times from this place which occupies around fifty hectares in total size. The local road construction plan in 2003-2004, which in reality had protracted to a five-year long exhausting project was said to have required over ten thousand cubic meters of rocks taken from this place. Covered by soil where tall grass rooted in, some parts on the stretch of hill used to be leveled during years of continual exploitation. But according to workers, the soil beneath still contain huge amount of materials that could support another long-period supplies There are seven men working for Ependi. One of them is the adjacent landowner’s son in law. It is not surprising to find out that the people who work with you here are your close relatives, or your neighbors. The apparent homogenous society is most likely due to the remoteness of the area. Moreover, this also causes many people of productive ages stay here for most possibly the rest of their lives. Most, if not all, were here since they were born until they became grandparents. Only a few, for various reasons, left the village and migrated elsewhere. These people do not constitute tribal societies found in parts of the country that refused some aspects of modernity and contact with outer world. Nonetheless, it is an interesting point to highlight as there is a place just a couple hundreds of kilometers from Jakarta where the mobility of its residence is a rarity. The village gets electricity. Contacts with outsiders, if any, are rare, but television brings familiarity to different culture and society. Despite being so inclusive in nature, the residents engage themselves with outsiders in friendly opening conversation. The true case remains unknown whether this sign of general hospitality originates from their genuine behavior or on a mere basis of curiosity. Islam is not the majority, but the only religion flourishing in the village of less than a hundred households. A musholla, a substitution for the bigger and unaffordable mosque stood at the center of the village. Repertoires of prayers were a strict routine like the way they always are. Ramadan that occurred in coincidence with our temporary presence saw an edict in which each person is charged with a minimum amount of Rp25,000 (a little less than $3) to be donated to the house of prayers. From landowners’ perspective, such as Ependi or some other who had accomplished their Hajj to Saudi Arabia, the musholla can expect to collect a bulk of donation higher than they have least required. But for workers like those who work on the rocky hill, this restrained holiday spending as one has to bear parents’ or children’s shares of donation. When asked to one of them if he would choose to compensate the edict for a guarantee that his family can have merrier holiday, the answer was that it was something of a duty.
It is a common sight for these men and women of productive ages to be responsible for the well-beings of not only their nuclear family, but also a sizable extended family. In a place of underdeveloped agriculture where rice is the only available agricultural product for trade, the chances are someone can choose to be a rice peasant or nothing at all. Of course one can opt for a job in rock crushing sites that mostly concentrated across the hill by the river, but with more grueling working conditions. The stagnated job diversification and abandonment of pro-rural industry compounds project proved to bring grave consequences for tens of thousands of people. It is alleged that there was no a breakthrough in social living sector for over two decades.
A pile of readily supplied rocks. Literacy is relatively high, largely owing to an elementary school opened in the village since 40 years ago. That said, inhabitants born since 1970s has good literacy rate. Still, the shortfall in educational sector is indicated by the lack of junior and senior high schools which are found in the district-level vicinity kilometers away. As a result, many students are discouraged to continue their education to the higher stage. Upon their early graduation, most are found in the farm. Due to the demanding working condition, none of these under aged people work in the rocky hill. The workers on the site consist of people in their 30s up to 50s. Many of them showed good passive Indonesian language skill. Verbal communication showed no problem during exchanges of short replies, however hampered when it comes to the workers’ part of conveying ideas or more complex utterance. This suggested a shortage in speaking skill. Sundanese, instead, is the commonly spoken language. Information dissemination is more effective when using this language. This kind of social approach, in spite of its popularity and effectiveness among local governments as a way to engage with rural inhabitants, portrays an act of conformity to their inability to improve the quality of education.
A worker on a swath of rocky hill. While poverty is commonplace in rural community such as clearly exemplified here, and to some extent, has become normalcy, or an accepted living condition, wealth gap appears to be staggering as well. A case in point, the head of village built a house that looked too lavish compared to the neighbors. Car ownership is extremely rare, as what is found parked at the open garage in front of the two-storey house. One cannot help but wonder if economic development and the age of modernity bring equality of wealth or disparity. Although one might say that diligence and hard-working ethos is a determining key aspect to success, creating equal opportunity as a prerequisite to acquiring better living, such as education and infrastructure, are other things that have to be put into consideration. Ependi, for instance, is one of the village head’s neighbors who lives in a small house with usual dark grey tone and went to his workplace by foot every day. Just like his informal employees, a roughly four kilometers distance between the village and the river area is definitely an indiscriminate daily routine. These people, while lacking skill, are not lazy as early assumed. Moreover, the typical laidback rural life does not affect them much. The reality they live in does not provide any option for improvements. Struggling either in the farm or in the rocky hill are two of the viable options of earning money. Examples of resilience can be found in the decision by some villagers to open a small kiosk at the front of the house next to the road, selling edible stuff or various types of body-care products. These kiosks that occupy the house terraces are emblematic to rural economy.
The inhabitants’ heavy reliance on natural resources to make a living brought environmental impact especially to the river, pitted against surrounding hills where mining activities are intense. Landslides continuously occurred since people began exploitation long time ago. As a result, some sites can no longer be extracted of rocks and declared closed forever. Today, the rocks that scatter across the river suggested that some parts of the hill collapsed and fell down on the aftermath of frequent landslides. Meanwhile, laborers also make do with rocks found on the narrow river banks, and placed the crushed rocks there so that they impeded river flow. On the west side of the river where the stream comes from, there spotted piles of rocks sitting near the river banks, that, combined with the huge layer of naturally formed rocks at its center, has choked the stream, thus contributed to the eventual weak flow at the end of the other side. On account of its importance in irrigating the farms and making the surrounding soil fertile, the river’s function has been compromised for a very long time. Workers’ activity on areas close to the river contributes to weak streams.
Casualties from such man-made landslides are seldom heard. People have become accustomed to the risk. Grinning, some of them made similar expression when they said that it is all in a day’s job. On the rainy season, working condition can get tougher. Narrow paths to the site get slippery, especially for the trucks carrying heavy load. Although it never happened as far as they remembered, careless driver might slip off the path and fell to at least five meters down the surface below. For the workers part, rains pose threats to rock falls from another working site located above, or in the worst scenario, flash landslides. There is no record on how much the traditional rock mining sector has contributed to the local GDP or how many people are involved since it was mostly done by the landowners’ initiative, and without proper supervision by the government. As for the latter, there is not any data in any local department about the particular sector because it is an illegal activity. Then it raises another question, why there is not any crackdown on such ubiquitous exploitation? It is the power that corrupts, and so in its practice, illicit activities that reward many with money will be spared of lengthy legal procedures.
Pig-head stone formation, name taken after the resemblance to the shape of the stone. There has actually been made regulation to prevent the potential over-exploitation in the area. According to several farmers who work on their paddy fields near the river, the surrounding rocky hill is declared state-owned land in early 1980s and ever since the government has prohibited rock extraction, on fear of landslides. It was more than a decade before local residents started having a piece of red paper which indicates a proof of ownership in possession. It is called Surat Pembayaran Pajak Terhutang (SPPT), kind of an annual tax proof of payment. In it contains the total size of land, which in general does not exceed one hectare each, the name of taxpayer, and other registration information. One who pays for the SPPT claims his piece of land, although it does not necessarily mean that he obtains the permit to undergo exploitation.
The nature that surrounds rocky hill.
“There is no permit ever issued by the government. Anyone who claims that he owns one is a liar,” said a farmer who asserted that he knows all too well about the matter. He furthermore said that it needs acknowledgment by the head of village and related agencies as an intangible seal of guarantee. There are at least four bureaucratic back doors to pass in order to get full approval to mining activity. Beginning with the proposal signature of village secretariat office and to the head of village, who then would follow up to the head of district, after which the two of them must form cooperation with local Forestry Agency and Energy and Mining Agency. This secret liaison serves for one purpose: to issue bogus infrastructure material mining permit, such as rock and soil, or in Indonesian is popularly described as Ijin Galian C, either under the name written on SPPT, or, when it is considered necessary, the head of village’s name. One and another mining site on the hill bear different stories. In several cases even it is possible to issue a permit containing location which is not the exact place where the mining activity is at. “Everything can be arranged,” said Ependi’s group, hinting at ways to manipulate the regulation. The previously completed projects had gone through similarly foul cooperation. Ependi admitted that he does not have the so-called mining permit. He holds on to the SPPT on his hands, which literally bear no significance when it comes to mining activity such he and his employees are there for, and a statement of approval by the head of village, whom he apparently has family bonds with.
Whether Ependi and others alike are aware of their involvement in crime as much as they harm their own living environment is not the subject of focus in this article. The enactment of land reform some ten years ago has resulted in the relatively equal distribution of land ownerships to each family in the village. Exploiting the rocks kept in the inner layer of the soil is one’s decision to make. Others are reluctant to jump on the bandwagon. Instead, they opted for regular paddy farming which can support steady means of living for generations to come, albeit with much less reward. For Ependi, the profit he has accumulated so far makes him able to finance his daughter’s university admission test last month, not to mention a sum he has prepared for her tuition, accommodation and the living cost in Bogor, Jakarta’s southern suburbs. It is all for the sake of a better tomorrow, a dream those peasant families cannot afford to wish.
See the slide show containing more pictures of rock workers on Purnadi Phan Photography website, or simply click here.
▼
Left: Resting tent under scarce trees.
Heavy infrastructure project in an extremely limited space.
Jakarta under construction
P12
Article section 2
Right and opposite page: A section of an elevated road being built on top of a flyover on top of a crossing bridge, all of which pass above the city’s main avenue.
Confidence abounds when it comes to the talk of the recent economic development in Indonesia which entails a boom in foreign investment, property market, and infrastructure. These three are on the spotlight especially in the capital Jakarta.
reactions, from proponents who applaud the visible plan to opponents who insist that the real solution to traffic problem is to bring extensive line of MRT to the city.
Jakarta is now home to rapidly increasing numbers of skyscrapers. Office building projects are now dominated by over thirty stories high. Reaching its peak momentum in 1997 and suddenly ground to a halt due to severe economic crisis, Jakarta is in the past two years on the faster track to expand its high-rise property market, and much taller, literally speaking.
The newly imposed regulation to limit the number of franchise outlets of a single ownership to 150 suggests how the municipality hastily keeps up with the surge of private investment into the country. Owner of a franchise whose outlets has exceeded the number set in the regulation but nevertheless plan to open more stores must form a partnership with another local company, who will in turn buy 60% of shares in the particular store. Reports on property are dominated by surging price at a fast rate, and undersupply of office space. With 95% rate of occupancy, it is predicted that rents will jump as demand for office space shows ever increasing trend. Lacking anticipation, it is not until 2014 that supply will slightly catch up with the demand. But the sector that is most lacking is road construction, which also entails transportation. For the latter, the absence of a sound mass rapid transit until, perhaps, five or six years to come, shows just how long the governments have dropped the ball, and the consequence it brings now. For the former, rapid construction is commonplace across the city. The plans to replace heavy intersections and railroad that crisscross the city’s road network with flyovers and underpasses have drawn mix
It has become more vivid for Jakartans to envisage two layers of road that directly go in-line for approximately seven kilometers long, especially for those whose companies are located in the office towers, flanking the roads.
One of the most striking sights of Jakarta in the making is found in Karet district, where a flyover that has stood to reduce traffic congestion since more than two decades ago in the intersection of Satrio Road and the most important road that passes the city’s most vibrant central business district, Sudirman Road, will now see gigantic structures that stand higher than it, built to ensure the traffic flow from west to central part and vice versa. These massive structures will support the future elevated road called non-toll highway. This new road section lays directly on top of another existing road below and goes on the same direction.
With rising investment and the subsequent increase in white collar workforce, comes the urgent question of whether the city infrastructure can facilitate such massive mobilization. The limited means of transportation this day presents hate-to-love relationship with the commuters. Without much choice, people shoved against each other in crammed commuter train and bus, leaving only tiny space left inside to breathe. According to Jabodetabek Urban Transportation Policy Integration (JUTPI) – a result of cooperation between JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and the governments – daily commuters to Jakarta accounted for 1.1 million people in 2010. Jakarta roads only take up 6% of the total city size. This is incredibly small proportion compared to 15% to 20% by standard composition in any modern city worldwide.
But while Jakarta lacks road, another question raises whether the increase in vehicle possession as one of the indications of advancing economic sector and wealthier society is a correct assumption. Another theory of a sustainable modern city underlines the importance of mass transportation as a vital means to support a lively and functioning city. Of course it is a wrong assumption to discourage personal vehicle possession, as people are entitled to own one provided they are financially capable. Moreover, automotive industry plays an indisputably large and crucial role in sustaining the economy of a country, more than other types of manufacture, such as consumer electronics. The persisting condition is that the country takes sides with the automotive industry, which is entirely made up of foreign investments, among those dominated by Japanese firms. Then there is the Zoning Detail and Plans, or Rencana Detail Tata Ruang (RDTR), published in 2012, from which we get to know the future assumption of urban transformation until 2030. One of the key points stated in the papers is that Jakarta population will swell to 12.5 million in 2030, compared to 9.5 million in current time. However, many observers consider it irrelevant when it comes to the planning based on the population figure in each district. In Menteng district in Central Jakarta, as an illustration, it is predicted that there will be 122,000 additional residents
in the particular area only in 2030, making the density figure to 191,000 in total. Based on 2010 annual sensus by National Bureau of Statistics (BPR), Menteng residents accounted for 68,000. At present time, at least there is one high-rise apartment under construction around the district. This demonstrates a highly contrast zoning system, which observers believe will adversely effect the habitation system that the district has established for many years. The district is by nature a low density residential area, plus it maintains its status as historically conserved area. A vertical (high density) residential type with one thousand populations per hectare does not bode well at all with the pre-existing condition.
Blueprint of toll roads (expressways) and non-toll ones include in-detail drawings, such as designated locations, complete list of intersections, etc. However, there are less mentioned plans to procure new transjakarta buses, trains, or the much awaited MRT project execution than it otherwise should. Sure, the related agency who made RDTR breaks the public transportation design planning down into three main objectives: to start building MRTs, transjakarta buses procurement and opening new corridors, last is the attempt to revive monorail project, although the last two suit better the term “public” rather than “mass” transportation due to low passanger capacity. Moreover, RDTR describes about Lebak Bulus-Kampung Bandan MRT line design. But it is deemed far from ideal as a single line will fail to deliver a sound and functioning citywide transportation. Many also critized the seemingly careless transportation system planning suubmitted in the papers. They argued it lacks integrated management, resulting in less connectivity between existing modes of transportation such as train stations and bus stops, an important case to successfully persuade majority of people to take public transportation, according to Transportation Laboratorium Head of the University of Indonesia, Ellen Tangkudung.
┌ Another thing, sprawling apartments cause traffic congestion and parking area shortage because there is no transportation networks found nearby. Residents are more than ever dependent on their vehicles, like in Kalibata apartment. High-density commercial zone is not equipped with reasonable transportation system, or even a pedestrian precincts. resulting in the chaotic situation during afternoon rush hours. Anthony Ladjar, co-founder of Jakarta Sidewalk Community regretted the governments inability, or ignorace, to provide such basic facility. Solutions presented in RDTR is somewhat dominated by the further addition of roads, expressways, and flyovers. This draws mixed reactions, as the opponents believe that it will only spur people to own private vehicles, which is a good recipe for deteriorating traffic. Lesson told that vehicles quickly fill up the newly added lanes of a road in Jakarta, rendering the road widening project seemingly useless. The newly elected Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo said he is 100% for transportation for the masses. But whether he could pull his weight into accomplishing this tremendous task remained to be seen in the first few months in the office.
This is the capital of the democratic Indonesia. We chose to do it the hard way from the start. ┘ After all, Jokowi now leads an administration who held accountable for the past unresolved problems. He has to come to terms with the lawmakers who attain the capability to make or break a deal in this city (if not the whole country). Building a better Jakarta is the reason he takes the helm. It is a bit discouraging (as is often the case) to expect to see Jokowi’s trust index drops because of the lackluster growth. Again, this is the capital of the democratic Indonesia. We chose to do it the hard way from the start. While still living up to his promise, Jokowi made an insinuation about how he had slightly changed the course in just a week after he made a tough stand regarding his disagreement with the six expressway proposals. “Providing a facility for cars would encourage more ownership. It runs counter to relieving the traffic. I asked them (the Public Works Ministry) whether the planned expressway will dedicate a lane to serve elevated bus route. I have not heard news from them. But I welcome it,” he told the press.
P15 Sing ago World section
Before there is the monolithic Marina Bay Sands or the hustle of Formula One night race, the city state of Singapore was not soring to the eye or too choking as it is now. Then, the city was the center of attention largely for its durianshaped theater on the bay “Esplanade�, opened in 2002. Southeast Asia grabbed a limelight in art cultivation, positioning itself on par with few other world class art centers. Now the island nation is among hosts to gas-guzzling automotive sport, the second in the region following Malaysia. The race to leverage status has somewhat shifted to grandiose building projects for rich society and overblown sports events.
Singapore is still the city of working class people. Packed public transportation modes like buses and MRTs, or crowded pedestrian precincts are the indicators. People still allocate an amount of time seeking leisure near the Merlion, among other open, public venues in the city. But now tourists set another must-visit site on top of the itinerary list, that is, the summit of MBS that comes in the shape of giant boat awkwardly placed on the tip of its three in-line buildings. It is also a popular choice for Indonesian couples to do their wedding photography, a case of which is represented by a friend.
A decade ago, when giving oneself a night treat to the Clark Quay while looking at the business district where there stood skyscrapers and UOB tower as the highest building in the city at the time was a simple yet memorable experience, when buying marinated beef at a tiny stall “Bee Cheng Hiang” near the entrance of one of the plazas in busy Orchard Road was one of the things your family had asked to bring to Jakarta, when I went to Temasek and learned later that the word actually derived from a Javanese meaning “Sea”, when Changi Airport was abuzz with seemingly plain-box-shaped design on the outside but of ultraefficient system of direction on the inside, Singapore in 2003 was a distinctive city in openness.
See the slide show containing more photos of Singapore at Purnadi Phan Photography website, or click here.
Next: Our special report from a painstaking journey to an uncharted place, seen by a very few. See it in the road least traveled.
P20 The road least traveled
Somewhere in the coastal line facing Indian Ocean lays a road built by a private corporation, and was used to serve mining activities many years ago. The place, holding abundant reserves of iron ore, was fought by many since 1980s, and had seen multiple times of changes in ownership as well as exploration permit. This stretch of road marked the once hectic exploitation out of massive investment. Since the withdrawal of the companies for various reasons, there are many parts of the abandoned road that have been covered by thick layer of sand, carried by the gust of sea wind. Meanwhile, the occasional tide level displaced stone remains that were once used as one of the materials for road construction. Apart from the local inhabitants, there seemed to be no one who finds the sixkilometer road useful. There are traces of cattle or motorcycle tires, all belong to the coastal villagers who remain isolated as this road had never served the purpose of connecting remote places to small towns. Nevertheless, travel is made easy, although nobody consider the route to be vital as many still preferred the narrow, winding and muddy paths across the mountains they have been so accustomed to for a long time. Several dilapidated structures by the road are not houses as assumed, but simply resting places for peasants, or for those who seek refuge from scorching sun, mainly during dry season.
┌ The place, holding abundant reserves of iron ore, was fought by many since 1980s, and had seen multiple times of changes in ownership as well as exploration permit. This stretch of road marked the once hectic exploitation out of massive investment.
┘
Special thanks to: Erwin Supandi, Sally Condro, Cornelis Tjendra, Smileeve, Wang “Harry� Wen, Inang Jasinan, Sahlan, Marten Semi, Jemmy Palarante, Xue Yong Yun, Bryan Wang, Ependi and family, Markus Xue Ban He, Rachmawanto, Rahmat Eddy, Bulan Hasibuan, Iskandar Zulkarnain, Jeane Sheimano, Emilia Nototaruno, Keith Loveard, Adrienne Acton, Teguh Pangestu, Kenichi Jianyi.
Join think!archipelago facebook page to keep you posted about the latest stories and upcoming issues.
think!archipelago Jl. Kemurnian Utara No.42 Jakarta, Indonesia 11120 +62 21 6344361 +62 81513219978 purnadi.phan@gmail.com