Road Jockeys in Jakarta

Hi everyone, sorry for not writing a post for such a long time.

In my last blog, I was talking about the street kids in Jakarta trying ways of making money in the congested traffic. I have left out another service provided by the kids, that is to be a ‘Road Jockey’.

In order to discourage excessive volumes of traffic in Jakarta, under existing laws, all private vehicles using Jakarta main roads (like our CBD areas) during the morning and evening rush hour must carry a minimum of 3 passengers. So the children or adults, also known as traffic jockeys, become paid passengers for short journeys past the police checkpoints. From what I know everytime that I am there, the going rate for a jockey ‘run’ through the police checkpoints is roughly about 2000 Rupiah (which is S$0.38) and they can earn up to S$3-4 a day. Jockeys line the roadside and hop into private vehicles immediately before the 3-in-1 zone begins. After the police checkpoint, they hop out again just about anywhere within the zone.

There was once during my stay in Jakarta, my driver and I picked up duo jockeys-a young mother slinging a baby- in order to enter the restricted zone. I saw my driver paying her 4000 Rupiah when she alighted from our car. This amount of money was definitely meager yet it showed me an interesting yet genuine fact about those who live their lives as jockeys.

When she saw the money appear in her face, she was so delighted that she grinned from ear to ear and said “Terimah Kasih” repeatedly for probably 10 times or more! I could see her joyousness amidst her tired and wrinkled face. It was just a delightful scene to look at that it truly showed how miserable their lives are, as they live their life just like how it is.

There are too many poor people in Indonesia that even a newborn baby also has to earn for his/her own living! When I asked if these road jockeys have liscences or are legally able to do this job, as a road jockey, my driver told me that it was illegal and that if these road jockeys were unlucky, they would be caught by the Municipal Street Superintendents who roam the restricted zone. These Municipal Street Superintendents will then catch this illegal jockeys ,regardless of age and sex, and then this illegal road jockeys will be hauled off to the municipal ‘Social Centre’ in Western Jakarta and kept in bars until a relative shows up with Rp 100,000(around S$14) to set them free. Then they will hit the road again for their poor lives. If a relative does not show up and pay for the fees, then too bad, they would need to stay behind bars for the rests of their lives.

Every time I return back to Jakarta, I am always able to experience my lavish and glamorous life living like a PRINCE in my ‘dungeon’ at the basement of the big bungalow with more maids and drivers, and glamorous cars, which amount to more than that of our own family members. Yet when I step out of the mansion, it is the true lives of what most poor Indonesians lead, lives that are so poor that they can’t even afford a simple meal everyday, a life that is so full of misery and sufferings, a life that is so unbearable that even I myself don’t dare to think about, and yet, this is the lives of what most Indonesians are living. It is such a great contrast from my life that I lead in Singapore and what I see inside the mansion!

We should cherish all that we have and give them back to the society when we are able to. These Indonesians only know one thing that is precious to them, the money. What does this show, you may be asking. Well, when I heard that they cherish their money more than their lives, I was so sad, that it felt like stabbing my own heart with a knife. What are they doing, just living their lives the way it is, they are wasting their time, effort and their lives, this will only lead to the same level of poverty that they were in a few decades ago. The poverty cycle just affects people on Earth too much, and now it is affecting their psychological thinking and thoughts…

What is money to you? That I will be speaking in a few days time…

Thank You!