My favorite Bajaj
By Ratna Yunita

Every morning I take Bajaj (read: Bajai) from home to the nearest TransJakarta’s stop. TransJakarta is a Bus-Rapid-Transit(BRT) that takes me to the office. I’m not going to make a story of TransJakarta this time, since Bajaj is much more interesting to talk about.

Bajaj is a three-wheeled passenger vehicle. Some people called it as autorickshaw. It originated from India. All passengers (2-3 people) sit behind the driver. Due to its size, Bajaj is one of the good alternative vehicles in crowded places, like Jakarta.

On my way this morning, I had an interesting chit-chat with the Bajaj’s driver. He is actually a father of three kids; 8, 6 and 3 years of age. He said that if the Fortuna Gods is with him, he might earn approximately 150,000 rupiah (US$16) per day. 50,000 rupiah (US$5) goes to the Bajaj’s owner and 60,000 rupiah for gasoline (US$7). In short, he’s only left with 40,000 rupiah (US$4) per day which he brings home for his family. According to the World Bank’s standard, this man is actually not poor. But the question is, can we still use the standard of US$1 per day to indicate poverty while prices of goods continue to increase?

While I was figuring out what he had just said, the driver kept talking about his daily expenses which go beyond his daily income due to inflation. He should spend for the daily transportation of his kids going to school, milk for the baby, and food, among others. He said that sometimes he can’t afford to pay the monthly mortgage, electricity and water bill so that he has to borrow from his neighbors. So, can we still consider the driver and his family above the poverty line, considering he is indebted? How can he and his family survive the days when he earns lesser? He can’t definitely be lucky all the time. These questions popped in my head.

Along the way, I saw another Bajaj with a logo of BBG (auto gas). I asked my Bajaj’s driver, “Why don’t you drive a BBG-run Bajaj? I just thought that gas is much cheaper than gasoline and it’s good for environment.” He replied, “Oh... Mam, those were just slogans! They don’t use gas. They still use gasoline, the same as mine.” To my surprise, I asked, “Really? How come?!” He replied, “The gas stations are very rare. BBG drivers prefer to use gasoline since they easily find reloading stations.”

Hmm... This reality dragged me into an interesting question, “Is protecting the environment just a slogan?”

Oops... the Bajaj just stopped. I had to get off. Bye for now...