High-Speed Train, Pros and Cons

The railway transportation portrait in Indonesia was always associated with crowded passengers squatting on the top of the carriages and illegal ragged shelters at railway banks and illegal stalls occupy the station platform and parking lots. 

Public attitude used to consider public service should be cheap and doesn’t concern with the resulting low revenue and insufficient operation cost that may deteriorate the related service. 

The railway situations in the country degrade and many railway tracks considered as uneconomic were dismantled.  Barely new tracks and new stations have been built in the country since the independence day. The moral of railway personnel were so degraded that it becomes a public secret that many railway employees feel at ease dealing with the stalls and the shelter owners to gain some regular petty cash as though their behavior is a normal one. 

However, there was a change in the people mindset that such permissiveness towards the indiscipline of the part of the society even though on behalf of the poor cannot be continued. The slums which have grown at the railway banks and illegal stalls within the station area gradually were eradicated. In the last several years, train management has set electronic means (e-ticket) at 63 stations in Jabodetabek in order to reduce illegal passengers.

However, as compared to other countries which have already jumped operating high-speed train (HST), we are still looked as though crawling using outmoded locomotive and carriage. You just name it: Japanese Shinkansen bullet train, France TVG-high speed train, or German Inter-city Express (ICE) train which can run very fast at more than 350 km per hours.

And today the government wants to make giant leap that nobody dares to imagine before. It looks as though we just jump from stone age into the modern age. The government now is very aggressive and a little bit ambitious to build and develop the infrastructure widely throughout the country. Indonesia wants to follow the advanced countries to develop high-speed train hoping that it could accelerate the regional development in accordance with Transit Oriented Development (TOD) plan.

The first project selected was Jakarta-Bandung track. The kick-off for this first HST project took place on January 21, 2016, on which event President Jokowi inaugurated the groundbreaking ceremony. The HST will connect Halim in Jakarta, Karawang, Walini, and Tegal Luar in Bandung Regency, covering the distance of 141 km in 35 minutes with USD 20 ticket price. There will be around 40 round trips a day carrying 583 passengers per trip or around 24,000 passengers per day. The inter-city railway track with the destination to the stations of the high-speed train, called Light Rail Transit (LRT), will also be constructed.

The constructor of HST costing around USD 5.600 billion will be China Railway International joining with a consortium named PT Pilar Sinergi BUMN Indonesia (PSBI) consisting of PT Kereta Api Indonesia, PT Wijaya Karya, PT Jasa Marga, and PT Perkebunan Nasional VIII. It is expected that the project will be completed in 2018 and fully operated in 2019.

As a new project, it is normal that there are still pros and cons. One of the objections is that there are too many stops for such a short distance of 141 km that make the train can never gain its full speed instantly. There is also an issue on the use of National Budget because so many State-owned companies taking part in the project. 

The government is firm to continue the project not only for Jakarta-Bandung track but other longer distance such as Jakarta-Surabaya, in big islands such as Kalimantan, Papua, and Sulawesi, as long as the project is viable and the fund is available.  

Degrading Roles of Bosscha Observatory

We live in a lonely green planet as part of solar system  looked insignificant in the midst of Milky Way which itself looked as insignificant shining spot among the very vast super-cluster galaxies. Why we live in such a “remote” little planet? Do we live in a special place within the grand cosmos? This old question is unanswered until today. 

This is the astronomical science is for. To observe the vast heaven above us, we need  technology. Without modern telescopes and other observatory equipments and most of all without astronomers, no way we can answer such human curiosity. 

The world knows well about Mount Palomar Observatory operated for the first time in 1936 by California Institute of Technology. But hardly people know that before Palomar Observatory was founded, Indonesia then Dutch East-Indies had already operated an observatory in Lembang, Bandung in 1925, the first of its kind in southern hemisphere. 

Karel Albert Rudolf Bosscha, the owner of Malabar tea plantation in West Java, and an astronomer Joan George Erardus Gjisbertus Voute, two persons with significantly different occupations, cooperated in building the observatory. Having realized that no development of observation in southern hemisphere, Voute took the initiative to establish an observatory in South Africa but having no support from the local government, he then moved to Dutch East-Indies.  

His old friend Bosscha, although a simple agribusiness man, agreed to support the idea and was able to collect one million guilders from his pocket money in early 1920s to buy the optical lenses and supporting equipments in Europe under the supervision of Leiden Observatory. He successfully convinced Ursone brothers, his fellow cattle breeders, living in Lembang to donate their 6 hectares land in surrounding areas at 1310 meters above the sea level on which the observatory, then coined as Bosscha Observatory, was constructed.

The observatory was operated by Nederlandsch-Indische Sterrenkundige Vereeniging (NISV) who issued its first publication in 1933. In 1951 NISV handed over the whole ownership and operation of the observatory to Indonesian Government. The government gave rights to Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) to operate it in 1959.

The observatory was completed with 5 telescopes, each of which has its own functions. In general, currently the telescopes are intended to observe the orbits of double stars, of Milky Way including novas and supernovas, of star spectrums, to make photometry of star eclipse and to examine the new moon for the fasting month. There is also a radio telescope with the diameter of 2.3 meters operating at the frequencies of 1400 to 1440 MHz to examine distant galaxies and quasars.

In the early 1960s, UNESCO donated Schmidt telescope to observe the Milky Way. In 1989, the Japanese Government donated Cassegrain Goto telescope to measure the strength of stellar light. The donation was given through Overseas Development Agency (ODA) Program. Unfortunately, people now construct too many houses surrounding the area where it becomes the public settlement. As the consequence the place becomes too bright at night against the astronomers need for minimum light to optimize the observation. 

In 2008 the government stipulated it as one of the vital objects, and under the law No 2/1992 it became the cultural heritage that must be protected and conserved. The observatory got international awards in the early 2010s, when four of its previous directors – Bambang Hidayat, Moedji Raharto, Dhani Herdiwijaya and Taufiq Hidayat – were coined as the names of asteroids by the Association of International Astronomy. 

The Bosscha Observatory – once was an important center of scientific research – ideally should regain its position as the leading observatory from the southern hemisphere. We all are responsible to find out solution on how to empower, re-strengthen and renew it to catch up with current developments. One of the most important factors to elevate the status of the observatory is to increase the government attention especially Indonesian Science Body (LIPI) towards  the welfare of the astronomers and the one and only astronomy education in ITB. 

As the observatory has only slightly been upgraded, the role of Bosscha observatory becomes insignificant. This situation is aggravated as other southern hemisphere nations such as Australia and South America built ultra-modern telescopes.

As a grand nation with big population such as Indonesia, we need a thoroughly upgrade Bosscha observatory and the construction of a new modern one. It should be built at a site far from the populated city, quite high above the sea level. Such a location can be easily selected somewhere in the Archipelago but unfortunately the government puts the funding of such requirement into low priorities if not none. 

The hope now lies on the loan of grant from the international scientific society or from the helping-hands of Indonesian tycoons, as the case of Bosscha who are willing to donate necessary fund, for which their names can be coined to the new observatory. But so far we have never heard about local tycoons who donated something for the progress of the science let alone the development of the observatory. 

Who among you, especially the Indonesia tycoons who are interested on science and want to follow the good deed of Karel Albert Rudolf Bosscha around hundred years ago.     

Should the State Apologize to ex-PKI Members?

A lapse of 50 year-time has passed since the Communist Party (PKI) was banned and most people who experienced the September 30 Movement (G30S) are getting old and most of them died. The ban remains and nobody, includes the young generation, wishes for lifting it. However, a number of people who group themselves in the so-called human rights NGO (Komnas HAM) claim the government to recognize the victims of mass murder against PKI members. 

The G30S movement was preceded by hatred and intimidation spread out by PKI towards their rivals no matter they were the army, nationalist or religious people. This was PKI fatal strategy. PKI was very self-confident as they believed that Soekarno would always protect them. Indeed, Soekarno played the game by balancing the power between the army and PKI rivalry. Furthermore, Soekarno considered PKI as one of the important Nasakom pillars that should be preserved their existence. That was why most people refrained themselves from openly counterattack against PKI terror. 

However, a couple of days after the G30S aborted movement, the finding of kidnapped general corpses that were cruelly mutilated and buried within a dried pit which was widely broadcasted through TV-media hurt deeply the people's conscience and considered it as an evil deed. … and all of sudden the hell broke loose. 

The people’s anger was so intense, as they still remembered the cruelty of PKI coup d’état in Madiun15 years earlier launched in the middle of people struggle against the Dutch assault. It was a coward movement stabbing from behind the young Republic that was just born. Thousands of people were cowardly slaughtered mostly officials, nationalists, and religious ones.  

And here again, PKI wanted to repeat the history with their bloody hand. Apart from killing the generals they sporadically killed people mainly NU clerics in Central and East Java prior to the coup d’état. No authority commanded people to fight against PKI after the abortive movement but nobody wanted to wait until they fall victims.  The mass vengeance was unstoppable. Hundreds of thousands of PKI and its associate members tragically lost their lives.  

Now after 50 years have gone there come to Komnas HAM claiming the government to apologize to victims associated with PKI. The NGO claim the Government’ tolerance on ex-PKI members’ massacre and therefore should be responsible for it. This was considered by NGO as a grave violation against human rights. Furthermore, they argue that many of the victims were not directly involved in the movement. It was on behalf of these innocent people that NGO wanted their names to be rehabilitated and called for the Government to apologize to and compensate them accordingly.

The claim of the NGO is debatable as to why they are one-sided. The victims are not solely from the PKI side, but also from the other side. Why Komnas HAM does not take care of the non-PKI victims? This important question seems to go to deaf-ear. They simply respond that they don’t have any data on people who were tortured and murdered by PKI. And no one from ex-PKI wants to admit their wrongdoing and recognize the bloody event not mention to publicly ask the apology.  

Komnas HAM personnel together with a noted lawyer named Nursyahbani Katjasungkana posted the 1965 Crimes against Humanity in Indonesia before the International People’s Tribunal on The Hague, November 10 – 13, 2015. This was done mainly to attract international intention rather than filing a lawsuit as for any event happening exceeded the limit of 17 year-period doesn't bind the court decision. 

The history shows that everywhere in the world, the Russian revolution under Stalin, China under Mao and Cambodia under Pol Pot, for example, did barbaric cleansing towards their main enemies in term of what they called the bourgeois and capitalist class. For them, the notion of rule by the people became confused with rule by the proletariat or, rather, rule by the vanguard party of the proletariat.

 

Indonesian people are not blind to these historical inhuman experiences. It is a matter of life and death. It is a matter of national survival. They and hopefully their grand-children wish not to experience the same suffering. And the NGO under the just simply ignores this people collective standpoint. Most of the Indonesian people don’t have any empathy and even cynical towards what the NGOs are doing. Under what criteria do they raise the human right issue? What the cut of date of the human right violation that they use? Do they intend to raise the human right violation by Dutch and Japanese colonization? In people eyes, the NGOs just do according to their masters’ voice i.e. the underlying actors who finance them.

Pinkan Indonesia di Seni Budaya Nusntara Jakarta

A Weird DPD First Interpellation

Nine years have elapsed before members of Regional Representatives Board (DPD)  one day in October this year realized that they had interpellation right to question the government if they did not agree with its policy.

But what a surprise,  the first interpellation right they use after so many years kept silent was about the Low Cost Green Car (LCGC), not the strategic issues related to the regional autonomy, say, for example, the creation of new autonomous regions.

Spearheaded by A.M Fatwa, a regional representative from Jakarta, around three fourth of 132 DPD members agreed to use such right. They argue that the infrastructure is not enough to support the existing cars. The rich people will have greater possibilities to buy LCGCs and rent them to poor people.

DPD members thought that they find a better solution by proposing to the government to sit down with rich people and discuss how to settle the problem of mass rapid transportation, rather than enabling common people to buy LCGCs.

How come that those distinguished DPD members have such mediocre arguments? Don’t they know that Indonesia is not Jakarta? More than half of the car population is concentrated in the Capital city. Look to the street in small cities outside Jakarta, look to the road in outer islands that the majority of DPD members represent, aren’t they all deserted?

 

Those grim conditions are caused by the fact that the cars sold in the market are too expensive so that most people cannot afford to buy. Of course, the policy cannot accommodate common people to buy such LCGC but at least it increases the opportunity to buy.

Irman Gusman, DPD head, said that the interpellation was raised because he got a lot of questions from people in small cities. His argument seems paradoxical. If those notable members are fair, they should question expensive cars circulating in Jakarta and welcome instead the cheap cars. 

Actually there is no need to respond such dim questions but constitutionally the government should answer the interpellation. The President, represented Coordinating Minister of Economics, Hatta Rajasa, Minister of Industry, MS Hidayat and Minister of Transportation, E.E. Mangindaan, responded that the policy of LCGCs is enacted to anticipate the upcoming ASEAN International Free Trade in 2015 and to meet the need of common people to have a car.

LCGCs will not become the causal factor of a traffic jam because the cars will be distributed mainly in a small city and villages where the cars are still very limited and traffic jam never happens. Besides, the government has taken priority to develop public transportation in six metropolitan cities and buffer zones to curb the traffic jam.

The honorable DPD members,

Next time you raise an interpellation, it should be the one that is more strategic and more valuable for the regions you are represented.

Quo Vadis the Low Cost Car Mass Productions?

A big controversy arises when the government launches a policy supporting the mass production of low cost green car (LCGC). Such cheap cars are classified as the ones which consume one liter for 28 kilometer-distance, 60 percent local contents and the selling price below Rp 75 million  (the US $6,800).

Just a couple of days after launching, almost 18,000 cheap cars have been sold out where most of the buyers are those who live in Jakarta and nearby cities. Low and middle-class people are eager to buy such cars as they cannot afford to buy a normal car which price beyond their purchasing power and buy motorcycles instead.

Now having such a low price car available, some of them may convert from riding motorcycles to cheap cars. The haves may also buy the car as a second [or higher] vehicle especially for their kids.

The number of cars in Indonesia compared to its population is among the lowest in the world. The availability of the LCGC will certainly increase the car population in Indonesia. Huge investment up to US$ 3.5 billion is required and it might absorb thousands of workers to fabricate the cars.

Definitely the LCGC mass productions will give a positive impact on the country economy as they improve the quality of the private transportation mode in term of fuel saving, transportation efficiency as compared to bigger and expensive cars, the condition of transportation mode especially for those using motorcycles and, last but not least, the environment.

Isn’t that the people car (“mobil rakyat”) that the country is longing for? The car which is not exclusively for the haves but also for middle and lower class? Of course, to become a national people car, it is hoped that at the latest stage the local content  would be close to 100 percent.

At everybody’s surprise, the launching of such LCGC has got various negative reactions. Most of the reasons that the opponents put forward are related to the traffic density. They are afraid that the traffic will be stagnant as the infrastructure would not be able to afford the additional amount of vehicles caused by the LCGC.

Under such a mindset, Jokowi, the popular Jakarta Governor, sent a letter to Vice President calling for the postponement for the sales of LCGC in Jakarta. Even some other prominent public figures have asked for the reduction of such people car mass productions.  

Certainly Jakarta is not Indonesia. In many other cities in the country, one may count the vehicles that run on the road. After twilight, the roads in many small cities are almost deserted. Out of around 60 million families in Indonesia only 10 percent possess passenger cars which means that in our country one car is for 40 people, much lower than the ratio in developed countries which is around 1 : 3.

How come that we should be against the relatively poor people for having a little comfort by possessing LCGC replacing their motorcycles in favor of the relatively rich people enjoying their “luxury” cars? Shouldn't we  have an opposite standpoint by encouraging people to have LCGC and imposing the luxury car (more than 3000 cc) usage limitation, by for example allowing them to circulate only beyond the office time?

The postponement of the cheap car mass productions will be a blunder as it will cause Indonesia suffer a big loss, as by 2015 any ASEAN countries under AFTA can easily export their cheap cars into their neighboring countries. They have kept eyes to take any opportunities to market their cheap cars here and certainly will establish their sole agents in our country selling their home-made cheap car.

Fortunately, the Minister of Industry holds firm his standpoint and pointing out that the LCGCs are not merely on sales in Greater Jakarta but will be distributed in 500 other cities. Quo vadis the LCGC mass productions? Will it give beneficial for the country or curse?

Folks, it is now you to make up your mind. 

Hoping that you have the right opinion.