Rainy Day

Jakarta has been pounded by the downpours lately. It seems to be easily foretold that Jakarta is going to enjoy a heavy downpour every afternoon around 3pm. It causes much chaos for the travelers and those living along the river banks. The streets in Jakarta are swamped by filthy rubbish and dirty water due to bad drainages, and many people are clogged in evenly awful traffic jams. What has made me amazed by Jakarta is that its perennial traffic congestion. A trip in the city during peak hours might be trammeled because of road conditions, reckless attitudes, and the overcrowding numbers of vehicles. During the rainy season the condition is getting worse which force people to take everything into account. I reckon God the Almighty seems to remind all Jakartans to keep their environments clean. No littering and all rubbish must go to the rubbish bins.

Nevertheless, Jakarta is also facing its own problems. The ditches along the road are never cleaned regularly. The local authorities tend to close their eyes that the water tunnels are bottlenecked by the enormous amount of human rubbish. When a flood occurs, many parties blame one another. The Jakarta’s politicians argue that there is a “package” of massive water from Bogor, a hilly neigbouring region, Southern part of Jakarta. Within only a two hour torrential rain, some parts of Jakarta is inundated by muddy water that flows freely into many residential areas and offices. Jakarta is paralyzed. The flood can burst the river banks and sweep all the inhabitants away. Many people are drifted to homeless. Flood is like an annual ritual which people only remember when it comes, then when it goes away they forget about every misery during its presence. People begin throwing all rubbish everywhere, and rivers function as the longest rubbish bin and lavatory. When a heavy downpour comes, people pathetically celebrate their annual rite.

The less fortunate who live in a shanty area are forced to leave their homes. They become homeless and need serious concern from the government. The fortunate groups can go to the 5 star hotels and pay their stay in luxury. They can take refuge in these sorts of places, while many have-nots have to stay in refugees' camps or in some public facilities. I remember back then that there was a landlord who ordered his three maidens to stay at his partially flooded homes in the midst of heavy downpours. Selfishly, the landlord and his family took refuge to a five-star hotel in the downtown. He did not think that his home was submerged by the flood, left his three maidens in there. Luckily, the rescue team came to help them. The television channels captured this terrible accurence where an egoistic person couldn't take others' fate into sincere consideration. Well, we have to learn more wisdoms from the mother-nature. We should not destroy our earth on which we have been living and enjoying its love.

Ciputat, 10/04/2008