Jakarta Rivers' trash clean up.

[dafluff]

These are from today's Kompas, showing the progress that Jakarta (read: Ahok) has made in fighting the overflowing trash in the city. I hope he gets reelected, and even afterwards (2-term limit) continues in public service in another capacity. He is easily the best leader Jakarta has ever had. More pictures by following this link. Photo credit: KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO.

Waduk Pluit November 2012 and September 2016.

Pintu Air Manggarai July 2013 and September 2016

Kali Sunter November 2012 and September 2016

 

[fastpitch17]

Seems to be a man of his word. Too bad some put barriers up between him and building a better city.

 

[Bad_azz]

It looks so much better- hope it stays that way.

 

[jstar]

He is doing quite a good job in cleaning up, yes.

But as all his predecessors he dropped the ball on transportation. The Bajaj replacement was no success, the Angkot situation has not been changed at all, the new paid parking rules (e.g. in Kelapa Gading) are no success, the LRT project as follow up on the canceled Monorail project is very ambitious but not making a lot of progress. The Metro Mini conflict made some nice headlines but fizzled out. The alternative for the 3-in-1 situation is considered to be a solution for the rich. Low quality TransJakarta busses are being replaced by better models but there was no serious public tender.

Something that could come back to haunt him, is the perceived conflict of interest in new developments in the Bay. The whole situation with the islands (which started without formal approval) and the perceived intertwining with (Chinese) developers as Agung Sedayu and Podomoro, won't do him any good. (Although he is doing a Pontius Pilatus on that one.) Other housing issues (as cleaning up kampungs from riverbanks and overflow areas, the Menteng certificates) are also perceived as being solved by a raging bull (a bit un-Indonesian). And there is still flooding.

There was an interesting program on a local TV station in which a researcher and political analyst showed and explained a survey showing the current situation concerning approval rating and re-electability: Right now, Ahok has an approval rating of circa 80%, that's very high. But his re-election potential is (only) 60%. And that is not so great. So even if people are quite happy with what he does, many would never vote for him. This of course has to do whether people like him (or Jokowi, he is still seen as a protégé) but also his ethnic and religious background plays a role. Of course the oppenents' image is important too. I'm also not sure if Golkar is a wise choice now, with the strong position of the PDI-P.

So we will see what happens next.

 

[Terry MacArsey]

Unbelievable how the places shown in the pictures could get in that state in the first place

 

[fastpitch17]

Unbelievable how the places shown in the pictures could get in that state in the first place

And no one do a thing about it when it was developing.

 

[Scooterindo]

And no one do a thing about it when it was developing.

Because no one gives a damn - the expression about pigs being happy in shit is applicable in this case. How many times have you been driving somewhere and seen crap come flying out of the car window in front of you. ?? The contents of the ashtray, sweet wrappers, bits of tissue and general car journey generated rubbish for example. The take it home and put it in the bin mentality obviously doesn't exist here.

 

[Anglian]

Probably Scoot they don't have a bin at home, just spread their rubbish around, there's a small lane close to me, I call it Shit alley, the motor bikes use it as a rat run and also drop of their plastic bags, which everybody rides over, so now the ally way stinks and has squashed shite about an inch thick,

 

[Joko]

How do Jakartans feel about littering? It's been pointed out to me here in Yangon that if you go back 20 years, everything here was sold in biodegrable packaging, i.e., paper or banana leaves, so people grew up just throwing away whatever wherever. Nowadays, stuff comes in plastic or styrofoam, and it sticks around. People's habits haven't caught up to how food, etc., is sold.

 

[jstar]

Especially the plastic bags and water cups (gelas aqua) have been a major pain. The plastic foil of kretek don't help either of course. Don't forget that -unlike in Europe- there are always street collectors of hard plastics as PET and alu cans; they get recycled. For the bags one needs to pay now (although the black ones in Kenari / LTC / Glodok are still for free) and I do see people taking their own bags to the supermarkets.

But the mentality does not really change; they put hanging garbage bins in ours streets. They are marked sampah basah and sampah kering. Nobody really knows what goes in which so recycling? And on the streets next to the bins you still find all the crap so nobody does the effort.

 

[Vicissidude]

Whenever I see someone throw garbage like that, I really want to stop and ask, "Why do you hate Indonesia so much?" Seriously, that's how I perceive it.

Yesterday I was driving behind a father and young son on a motorbike. The little one had his hands full of those stupid two-bites-and-done snacks. I got to watch him tear open each one with his chubby little hands, shove sugar in his face, toss the wrapper, and repeat several times. I know I shouldn't judge other parents since I don't have kids, but if I ever do and I not only allow that behavior but also supply the garbage, please shoot me in the face.

 

[dafluff]

There was an interesting program on a local TV station in which a researcher and political analyst showed and explained a survey showing the current situation concerning approval rating and re-electability: Right now, Ahok has an approval rating of circa 80%, that's very high. But his re-election potential is (only) 60%. And that is not so great. So even if people are quite happy with what he does, many would never vote for him. This of course has to do whether people like him (or Jokowi, he is still seen as a protégé) but also his ethnic and religious background plays a role. Of course the oppenents' image is important too. I'm also not sure if Golkar is a wise choice now, with the strong position of the PDI-P.

So we will see what happens next.

From the grapevine: PDI-P will announce Ahok as their gubernatorial candidate soon, possibly on Monday. If that happens, then his re-election chances are very good.

 

[dafluff]

From the grapevine: PDI-P will announce Ahok as their gubernatorial candidate soon, possibly on Monday. If that happens, then his re-election chances are very good.

And there you go: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/...y-backs-ahok-djarot-for-jakarta-election.html

Remember you heard it here first....

 

[jstar]

Not really; most larger parties (Golkar and PDI-P) have given their support for Ahok. So have NasDem and Hanura btw. Only smaller fish as Gerindra, PKS, PKB don't want him. It's like; hmm, let's select the (probable) winner here. PDI-P was just contemplating if they should position their female mayor from Surabaya as candidate. When they realized it was not an option it was an easy choice.

 

[sumyunggai]

Especially the plastic bags and water cups (gelas aqua) have been a major pain. The plastic foil of kretek don't help either of course. Don't forget that -unlike in Europe- there are always street collectors of hard plastics as PET and alu cans; they get recycled. For the bags one needs to pay now (although the black ones in Kenari / LTC / Glodok are still for free) and I do see people taking their own bags to the supermarkets.

But the mentality does not really change; they put hanging garbage bins in ours streets. They are marked sampah basah and sampah kering. Nobody really knows what goes in which so recycling? And on the streets next to the bins you still find all the crap so nobody does the effort.

They just add the the bag on automatically without asking. I went to buy some underwear, price 199,900. I give 200,000rp. They ask me for 100rp extra for the bag I say I don't need no stinking bag. So they dont give me anybchange. I'm like 'hey, where's my 100rp? You asked me for it so why don't you have it for me?' they gave me a 200rp....

 

[jstar]

.
They are still cleaning up...

Normally there is no water in this area before the rainy season. During the summer it practically rained every day. Wonder what will happen in a couple of months.

 

[fmj50]

I was pleasantly surprised the other day. Some blokes arrived at my street (Bogor) to rebuild the sidewalks. When asked why they were doing that, was the city rebuilding the sidewalks to make Bogor look a bit nicer (badly needed), they said no, they were sent here to close the open drains so that people would not throw garbage/plastic into it. I am still smiling. This lovely country could be so much better, hope this is a good start.

 

[jstar]

In Rawamangun there is a big boulevard with many shops and restaurants. Now most building owners and residents (ACE, Tiki, etc.) took it upon themselves to close those open sewers on the street level, so it is easier to drive in and out for their customers. It also gave them additional parking of course.

There has been a huge 'cleaning up and deepen the sewers' program. And all the (non official) covering had to be removed for access. Amazing amount of work and costs involved, you can imagine all the concrete and asphalt used.