Questions have arisen about whether or not Jakartans are civilized enough for a modern public transportation system like the new MRT after photos of passengers eating in a station, standing on seats and dangling on grab handles went viral last week. One may be inclined towards saying no as it appears that some people still haven’t learned, as illustrated in a more recent viral photo.
Yesterday, Koalisi Pejalan Kaki (Pedestrian Coalition), a group that advocates for pedestrian rights in Indonesia, posted a photo of this unsightly scene on their Instagram account.
“It’s enough to leave footprints behind, but not trash,” the photo caption read. The photo was taken outside the entrance of Bundaran HI MRT station in Central Jakarta.
PT MRT Jakarta confirmed that the photo was taken on Sunday afternoon, which was the last day that MRT rides were free to the public. It appears, aside from the litterbugs’ lack of conscientiousness, the garbage was the result of a policy that one might expect to backfire in Indonesia.
“In MRT stations there are very few trash cans because we want to enforce the culture that people should carry, stow away or pick up their own trash. For example, if one has a water bottle, it is expected they can keep it in a bag and not drink out of it while at the station,” PT MRT Jakarta Corporate Secretary Muhammad Kamaludin told Media Indonesia yesterday, adding that trash cans are only provided in public toilets in MRT stations.
“If we provide trash cans in stations, that would encourage people to bring food and drinks to the stations, and then they’d eat and drink at the stations, and also litter at the stations,” he said.
The train company says it will continue educating the public to stop bringing food and drinks and, above all, to stop littering in around MRT facilities.
Update: PT MRT announced today that it will impose an IDR500K (US$35) fine for anyone caught littering in MRT stations.
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