Category: General

This weekend, I (jm) had my first experience with the Indonesian train system. It was somewhat amusing and interesting at the same time, so I thought I’d make a few observations.
First of all, an “executive” ticket for the hour ride we took was less than $2 round trip. It’s really hard to figure out when they run, because there are complete schedules up (if you know where to look) at the station but the trains seem to run on some other unwritten schedule. There’s also a funny thing with Indonesians in general, and that is they don’t wait for people to get off before they shove and push to get on (this happens in our elevators all the time). This, plus the limited number of seats on the trains, make getting on the train a somewhat harrowing experience. People also start lining up and waiting about 45 minutes before the departure. While we were waiting, we saw maybe ten train workers jump one by one onto a moving train which was passing through. Tom also told me that people ride on top of the trains, and we indeed saw one guy just hanging out on top of a fast-moving train. There are many trains without a/c, and they typically leave the doors open and people just sit on the steps and hang out.
I think the funniest thing was that in order to get off our train in Bogor , we had jump onto another train parked between us and the station, push our way through it with everyone else, and then jump down on the tracks and run across to the station. I should say “station” because even though Bogor has about 750,000 people, the station consists of one platform with no way to get to it (except by running over the tracks- not very handicapped, child, or elderly friendly) and one small room where they sell tickets. You can’t even see the entrance because there are so many stalls on the street in front, it was hard getting back.
We have to confess that we went to the Dunkin Donuts next to the station while waiting for the counter to open. It’s not our fault! There was nothing else around and it was air conditioned!

Aside from the folks at the Freedom Institute and security guards at our apartment complex, the only people who we regularly talk to here are cab drivers. For some reason, probably like in New York, cab drivers here are either very surly or very friendly. There seems to be little in between.

Yesterday we were in a taxi at the exact time that the call to end the day’s fast started. (We could tell because our cabbie was listening to a Muslim station on the radio.) The cabbie turned around, smiled, and took a big swig from a bottle of tea he had with him. Then he spit it out the door. Then he took another sip and drank it. (People in general here, when stuck in traffic, have no problem opening the door and clearing their throat and hocking loogies. Maybe it’s the smog and the cigarettes.)

An interesting observation is that without fail, the Christian cabbies want to talk to us. Always. And they go on and on about how radical Muslims are such a problem. Now, we, on the other hand, try to be a little more evenhanded. While we would never point out the Protestant violence against Muslims in central Sulawesi, we do say that it’s such a small percentage of Indonesia that is actually radical. They eventually agree with us, but seem a bit disappointed that they don’t have a sympathetic ear to whine to. They also tend to talk to us for a couple of minutes before letting us know that they are Christian, so we are extra-sensitive and extra-careful to be politically correct.

The Muslim cabbies, on the other hand, sometimes talk to us and sometimes don’t. Among those twho do talk, they all like to ask about Pak George Bush, but oftentimes I (TP) am the one who brings it up. They are also sometimes interested in how Americans feel about Indonesia, but alas, we tell them that most Americans don’t think of anything about Indonesia. Sometimes they ask us if we are scared of Indonesia, especially since the Australian embassy bombing a month ago. We reply that we are not, and are particularly saddened by the fact that it’s only Indonesians who actually perish in these attacks, excluding the Bali bombing. They like this. They, like the Christian cabbies, tell us that Muslim radicals are bad for Indonesia, and that Indonesia needs good government and free education for kids. We agree.

NB: This is all contingent on us actually understanding them. Cabbies in Jakarta are seldom actually from Jakarta, but rather come as itinerant workers from the outer provinces, which means that their Bahasa Indonesia is heavily accented and peppered with loanwords from Minang, Javanese, Menadonese, and/or Jakarta street slang.