IMAGE OF INDONESIA: PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION by Putri Naura Azhary XE

Indonesia is rank as the 4th most populous country in the world. That make many people, including students, workers, commuters, etc. need a good public transportations system to provide them a  good service in transportation. People nowadays, are very mobile and busy. “Time is money”.  That’s what people think nowadays. So they hope by using public transportations they would travel and commute easier around the city.

That is why local government, in this case Jakarta, provide them with many kind of transportation. The problem is, our capital city transportations isn’t very comfortable and trusted to ride through some people’s eyes. Even though there is more than one of it. Such as bajaj, taxi, busway,bus, even motorcycle ride or what we mostly called ‘ojek’. I think for the last one, not many countries around the world has it. But Indonesia do, considering that many of our residents still using motorcycle. The benefit using ojek is, you won’t get stuck longer in traffic jam compare to using cars. Ojek can fit in a small alley or road, so sometimes you have your own ‘private’ way that none of big vehicle can enter. But, the loss is, riding ojek isn’t really safety, especially in Jakarta. Different from others, ojek doesn’t have any permanent/constant fare. That make us, as a costumer must be smart to negotiate the fare. Furthermore, riding ojek isn’t so good for your health. Because the smoke from vehicles can enter our body easily.

 

Metromini bus including the 'pengamen'.

Now let’s talk about the vehicle that most people choose. It’s bus. Whether it’s called Metromini or Kopaja, it is still in one group. People mostly choose this because it’s very easy to find bus in every roads/bus stop in Jakarta. And yes, it’s really affordable, only two or three thousand rupiah. But that’s why it’s really crowded and sensitive to crime. Plus, the facility often not clean and already used for years. 

Speaking of safety and hygiene, i think the safest and cleanest one in Jakarta is taxi either busway. Both are really comfortable with clean seats and air conditioner. But taxi fare is often can be really expensive especially when you travel far. Busway or TransJakarta is the most efficient because it has it own lane in Jakarta’s road. So it will be easier and faster to travel.

Bajaj

And the last one is bajaj, this vehicle can only found in India or Indonesia. It’s quite unique actually. It only has three wheels and doesn’t has a headlights. So, if you see a bajaj in the road, it will really hard to predict where it gonna turn, right or left because it can’t give you any sign. Furthermore, bajaj’s machine sounds very noisy and if you ride this your body will shaking all the time because of the machine. And same as ojek, it doesn’t has any constant fare.

Overall, the residents in the city---especially the suburban with their capability to buy their own car, still choose to travel by car. Considering the comfort, safety and hygiene factor.

If there’s any tourists come visiting my city, i suggest they take the trusted and comfortable accommodation to travel all day long.

Putri Naura Assyifa XE

Indonesia's Colorful Cultures

Indonesia has many things and culture for us to learn. But sadly, many people don’t know about it. So, the aim for this report is to tell you about Indonesian’s Cultures and things that are popular in Indonesia. Do you know that Indonesia has many interesting and colorful cultures? This report will tell you what are interesting in Indonesia.

Indonesia has many kinds of foods! Each region has it own specialty foods. For example, “Pempek” is a food from Palembang, and “Gado-Gado” is from Jakarta. I ask a couple of my friends in our class, most of them love “Sate Padang”. You can see from its name, Sate Padang is come from Padang. It’s not an ordinary satay, it’s a satay made from cow or goat offal boiled in spicy broth then grilled. Its main characteristic is a yellow sauce made from rice flour mixed with spicy offal broth, turmeric, ginger, garlic, coriander, galangal root, cumin, curry powder and salt. I personally love “Gado-Gado”! It’s a vegetable dish with peanut sauce dressing. It usually contain bean sprouts, long beans, tofu, tempe, potatoes, egg and many other’s green vegetable, you could improvise your own gado-gado! And there are still many foods you can try in Indonesia. All of them are very yummy! 

Cultures in Indonesia are so interesting to learn and see! One of the popular in Indonesia is “Tari Saman”. Saman is also known as dance of thousand hands because of its fast movement. Its origin is from the Aceh. This dance is done by a group in one line and dancers perform while kneeling. This dance is also popular across the world too! Batik is one of Indonesian’s worlds famous too! Batik is a cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax resist dyeing technique. Batik has worldwide popularity! Now, not only is batik used as a material for clothing, its uses also including furnishing fabrics, heavy canvas wall hangings, tablecloths and household accessories. Batik techniques are also used by famous artists to create batik paintings.

Well, soccer is a sport that is popular in Indonesia right now. Many people are still wake up late because they want to watch soccer match. But, do you know? Maybe townspeople watch and play soccer, but what about rural people? Indonesia has many traditional sports too! And it’s interesting and fun to play or just watch. One that’s very popular is “Karapan Sapi”. It’s a race with buffalo! The Maduranese people of the island of Madura, East Java, Indonesia, race their strongest and fastest buffalo in races hold regularly a few times a year, typically in August, September and October. 

 So, what have you learned from this report? Indonesia has many interesting and colorful cultures! But many people, including Indonesian themselves, don’t know about that! That’s too bad, right? Why don’t we begin to maintain and preserve it? That way our colorful cultures can be well known across the world~!

By: Khansa Nadhifa Mazaya XE/25

Visoins of Indonesia and Jakarta

The target of this report is to show what is interesting in Indonesia. I interviewed my friends by speaking directly. This report contains traffic, sport, free time, and culinary in Indonesia, especially Jakarta.

Traffic : in evening, traffic jam almost always occur from 4:30 pm until more than 10 pm. It's because the public transport drop off passengers at any place. It can be roadside or middleroad. The station should be made to avoid traffic jam.

Sport : about 60% of all ages of Indonesia like football, so the tv station provides some football tournament from most of other countries like america, europe, etc and a small portion of Indonesia. Sometimes football tournament will be broadcasting at middle of the night.

Free time : about 80-90% of teenagers spend their free time to access their facebook and twitter at their gadgets named "Black Berry".

Culinary : about 40% of adults likes Padang's cuisine, Betawi's cuisine, etc. ItS because the rest are like fast food and american food.

So in the end, the most interesting of this report are about Sport.

The writer, Ario D.