Jakarta’s carpooling laws were meant to ease traffic jams. Instead, they have spawned an industry of professional hitchhikers who help drivers comply with highway rules — for a fee.
Hundreds of men, women and children line the main arteries of the Indonesian capital every weekday, offering to ride in private vehicles during rush hours, when cars are obliged to carry at least three passengers on key stretches.
The “jockeys” — as they are known — do not stick out their thumbs like typical hitchhikers around the world. Here, one finger signifies a jockey working solo, while two offers a pair, usually a mother with a child in tow or a baby in a batik sling.
Photo: AFP
In a country where millions are struggling to climb out of poverty and into an expanding middle class, the jockeys — who charge about US$1 a ride — have turned their services into a career.
Jimmy, 22, has jockeying down to a fine art. In the hodgepodge of roadside competitors waiting for a ride, he stands out with his silver-rimmed spectacles and blue checkered shirt tucked neatly into a pair of black trousers.
“Chauffeurs in BMWs and Mercedes cars often pick me up because I can pass off as their employer’s friend or relative. Motorists don’t want to get caught by police, so jockeys have to help them minimize the risk,” said Jimmy, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
Cars picking up jockeys can face fines of up to 1 million rupiah (US$109). However, in a country where official corruption is rife, a 200,000 rupiah bribe is usually enough to get off the hook.
“Generally, nobody wants to get stuck in a jam with someone with smelly armpits. For my -efforts, I ask for an extra 5,000 -rupiah and I usually get it,” Jimmy said.
He makes about five trips a day and pockets about US$7.50 daily — a good sum in a country where about half of the 240 million population lives on less than US$2 a day.
However, not all jockeys are as savvy or fortunate as Jimmy. Many female jockeys are often sexually harassed in private vehicles, and police regularly lock up riders in squalid cells. By law, they can be jailed for up to 12 months.
Nuraini, 39, has worked as a traffic jockey for the past three years to supplement her husband’s meager income as a motorcycle-taxi driver.
“One time when I was still -pregnant, a driver asked if I wanted some fun. It was very uncomfortable, so I quickly got out of the car,” she said, carrying a baby in one arm and holding an eight-year-old daughter by the hand.
Nuraini rises at dawn to make the hour-long journey from her village in the suburbs to the city for the morning rush hour, returns home to cook for her four young children and is back on the streets to work the evening.
“It’s exhausting. The weather can change from sweltering hot to terribly stormy. Some days, I earn nothing, even if I wait for hours,” Nuraini said.
The jockeys know they are -violating the law and could be fined or detained for several weeks if caught. However, for the most part, police turn a blind eye to the hundreds on the streets each day.
“I don’t have a family. I never went to school. If I don’t do this, how will I eat?” asked Praspardi Putra Wibisono, a 16-year-old who was arrested last year and detained for two months.
Herlina, 36, has been arrested twice and was detained for six weeks in 2006.
“My time in prison was terrible. Eighteen of us were crammed in a stuffy cell full of mosquitoes. We slept on thin bamboo mats and the toilet stank,” she said. “So, why am I still doing this risky job? Simple, I need to live.”
The carpooling rule, introduced in 1992, has done little to ease the traffic snarl in Jakarta, which has a population of about 10 million.
During the week, millions more from the capital’s outskirts join the rat race, meaning 8 million cars ply Jakarta’s streets every day, and at least 1,000 new vehicles are added daily to the grind.
Analysts warn that the city could become totally gridlocked by 2014 if major infrastructure changes are not made.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS