Jakarta – In any metropolis, the government ostensibly exists to protect the powerless. At its best, a city's government helps the people avoid the law of the jungle. At its worst, an impotent city government can consign its residents to the woes of modern urbanization. In line with Jakarta's 484th anniversary, The Jakarta Post's Rabby Pramudatama takes a closer look at how the city's least powerful residents cope in a city that has been designed by those in power for a population of young, healthy upper-middle-class people.
The man with the cane struggled up the steps of the Petamburan pedestrian walkway in West Jakarta with the help of a Transjakarta busway officer.
Another elderly man in a wheel chair hesitantly attempted to direct the traffic on the busy thoroughfare as a passerby attempted to assist him by gesturing and shouting, "Watch out!" each time a car whizzed by.
Jakarta is a daunting place to get around for the elderly. Suhaemi, 60, a grandmother of eight, originally from Kuningan in West Java, sticks close to her home because she thinks the streets are too dangerous for her.
"I don't want to take the busway because the steps are too steep, and I am afraid that I will slip on the stairs," she said. Suhaemi still has a limp from an injury she sustained when she fell from a bus.
Her children have forbidden her to use any form of public transportation except a bajaj (three-wheeled motorized pedicab). "It's better for me not to ride a bus, that would be risky," she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Jakarta's sidewalks, bus stops, and pedestrian bridges are no place for the faint hearted. The sidewalks are narrow; the curbs are too high to allow easy access to buses, and the pedestrian walkways tower over the street to accommodate large trucks. Even getting into a mall in the capital often requires a tedious walk up a flight of stairs.
"The elderly are rarely taken into consideration by the planners, as can be seen clearly in the city's pedestrian bridges or pavements," Nirwono Joga, an urban planning expert, told the Post.
"Most of the decision makers are young, and would never even consider what it might be like to take walk in an elderly man's shoes on a Jakarta street."
He added that because the decision makers' mind-set did not acknowledge the elderly, they had no place at all in city planning. Therefore, there are no budget allocations, bylaws, or governor decrees that benefit the elderly, he said.
The Jakarta's administration still lacks pro-elderly policies. There is only one law pertaining to welfare for the elderly citizen: Law No. 13/1998, which is not fully implemented.
"What the elderly need the most is access to healthcare, usable infrastructure, accessible transportation, and user-friendly places for recreation and religious activities," Nirwono said. In Jakarta, these needs are more often met by non-governmental organizations and local communities.
Sutikem spends most of her time at the Bhakti Sekawan senior citizens center in Tebet, South Jakarta. They provide activities for senior citizens in the neighborhood, such as health check-ups, physical exercise, storytelling, recitations and singing. "Every Tuesday and Thursday we gather at the center's hall to conduct our activities, but sometimes we also gather on Mondays and Wednesdays," she said.
Outside of community centers, however, there are few other places for the elderly to go for exercise and relaxation.
Nirwono cited the fact that the city administration had only provided one elderly friendly spot – the Langsat Senior Citizens Park in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.
The park, with its smooth jogging path that circles a pond is fairly quiet on weekdays. Ucup, a park security guard, told the Post that crowds of senior citizens gathered at the park on the first week of every month for a public exercise event.
Nirwono said more such parks were needed because in 2009 the Central Statistics Agency reported that people aged more than 55 numbered 833,477. The total population of the city is now more than 9.5 million.
He suggested that the central government create an annual prize to motivate the development of senior citizen friendly infrastructures. "It's time to think about the elderly," he said. "Besides, everyone will become an elderly person someday, the question is what do you want the city to be like when you get old."
WHO reported in 2002 that by 2020 Indonesia would see the largest increase of its elderly population of any country in the world due to the improved quality of public care. According to the Central Statistic Agency, Indonesia's elderly population in 2010 reached 20 million out of 237 million inhabitants. (rpt)