Insight: A tale of 2 cities

This is my umpteenth trip to Jakarta, Indonesia. Having seen and experienced much of the intricate and shocking realities of this city of 12 million inhabitants (excluding another 5 million who travel to Jakarta daily from the surrounding satellite towns), it’s high time I wrote something to my fellow Singaporeans…

Did you know that in Jakarta……….

….using a hand phone to call other hand phones can cost you about 30cents SGD per minute? The rates will be higher if you call to mobiles of a different operator and if you call to another city. We’re talking about big time operators that have already made S$ billions in the telecommunications industry in Indonesia. Imagine Singtel charging exorbitant rates but the Government doesn’t bother to say something?

On the other hand, there are some small operators who charge at unbelievably low rates, such as Fren, at less than 25cents SGD per hour (not per minute!), including calls made to different cities in Indonesia!

….Ministers can amass huge amounts of wealth and normally immuned to public outcry? (This sounds a bit familiar leh…) Take for example the recent mud disaster in Sidoarjo, located near Surabaya, the 2nd biggest city in Indonesia with a population of 8 million. I was in the small town before. (Famous for banana chips, and big salted fish, yaks or yummy?!)


The mud disaster in Porong, Sidoarjo. Fuming hot, oozing out from the ground. Scientists suspect it might be cancer-causing.

It was a major environmental disaster created by a mining conglomerate group linked to the family of the current Minister of Economy Mr Aburizal Bakrie. So far he has remained silent despite the wide publicity by the press. The irony is that a foreign environmental group, GreenPeace, took the initiative by dumping mud they collected at the disaster zone onto the gate of the minister’s office for his “bo-chap” attitude. The Indonesian President subsequently ordered the conglomerate to pay close to S$170 million for the recovery works.





Aburizal Bakrie: Filthy rich, it's ok but you've got no right to allow the land to be filthy dirty.......





….the normal office employee is paid about S$500-S$800 but the typical meals in shopping centres cost about S$2-S$5? KFC, Mac and BurgerKing all have prices comparable to that of Singapore. So who’s the lucky guy? We Singaporeans better don’t complain too much about rising living costs.

….going to the barber’s is as cheap as getting a meal? Normal salons charge about Rp12.000-20.000, about S$2-3.50, not to mention the roadside shops which charge much lesser. In Singapore the standard rate for us men is S$10.

….a taxi ride everyday will cost you more than owning a car?

….the most famous bird is called Blue Bird? Silver Bird is also well-known though it is black in colour. Actually these “Birds” are established taxi companies lah.

….pirated DVDs (Hollywood, Hongkie, X-rated, Classics, etc.) are sold openly at less than S$1, some even in 7-in-1 or 9-in-1 format. Computer software are also cheap. And no “teh-gu” (Police) to catch the hardworking entrepreneurs (or should I call them as such?), especially those selling the X-rated stuff.


(These “X-Men” seem so desperate for business, always grabbing attention from people who pass them by. Maybe their bosses implement daily quota system?!)

In all, their professionalism is worthy of emulation. Some “reputable” stalls have DVD players and computer terminals for buyers to test quality of the DVDs or software before purchase. Where got such high service standards for Singapore’s Pirate Industry?

There is more that I can write about, especially on the PSI of Jakarta and many others but have to stop here as this article has to be short and sweet. Cheers.