Jejak Jogja: Lessons on Life

29 students and 3 lecturers from UiTM's Town & Regional Planning Department had gone for a study trip to Yogyakarta and Solo from 2 - 6 March 2009. During the five days trip, the group managed to forged closer ties with planning students from Universitas Gadjah Mada and made two presentations about planning system and urban design in Malaysia. Students and staff from UGM had warmly welcome the UiTM's group. The five days stay in Yogyakarta and a short day trip to Solo were not only filled with visits to interesting tourist destinations in the special region, but had also portrayed the Indonesian culture and heritage. Visting Borobudur, one of site listed in the UNESCO world heritage list as depicted in the photo above and going up to the Ketep Pass to have a glimpse of the Merapi volcano were the highlights of the trip. However, the midday rain and the fog at the mountain land made it impossible to view the volcano. See picture below.

The visit to Parangtritis beach to view the serenity of the sunset, the "andong" (horse carriage) ride to Puriwisata for dinner and watching the Ramayana theatre plus visits to royal palaces - the Mangkunegaran palace in Surakarta (Solo) & Kraton in Yogyakarta and the urban conservation site at Taman Sari had certainly made the five day's tour busy and interesting. Though the students learned a lot from the visit to UGM and the sightseeing and visiting tourist attraction places, one very important lesson that the students got from this visit is through observing the living conditions and the interactions they had with the ordinary people on the streets of Yogyakarta.

Malaysia and Indonesia might have many similarities, but had very different political system and governmental policies. As such our Indonesian cousins had not enjoy the type of development that we, in Malaysia had taken for granted. The most notable difference experienced by visitors to the Java island the moment they step out of the airport is the high density of people, compactness of the buildings and narrowness of the streets. People seems to be everywhere, some busy at work, many on the move, some are doing whatever they can to earn a living ... to the extent of begging ... and many more just seems to be doing nothing but passing time. The high proportion of poor people is reflected in the urban fabric .. for example, the trishaw that has became obsolete in Malaysian cities is still heavily used by people as cheaper means of transportation, besides being used for "wisata" (tourism) .. together with the "andong" (horse-carriage). As the world's fourth largest country in terms of population (after, China, India and USA), Indonesia certainly depicts the crisis described by Paul Earlich (1968) in his book "The Population Bomb". This is especially true in the island of Java where 60 percent of the Indonesian population stays. The government's transmigration policy that aims at bringing people to other islands like Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Sumatera etc. has not translated well in practice. Javanese would not want to leave the Java land ... no matter how difficult life is in the disaster-prone island.

The Bachelor in Town & Regional Planning 08 students who went for "Jejak Jogja" had seen how people are making whatever they can to earn a living. Surely they will not forget being chased by the "asungan" sellers at Borobudur who would be willing to offer unbelievably low prices that had tempted many students to buy the souvenirs. The ever willing "amen" singers and musician who would use anything ... from a guitar to just bottles and sticks to entertain customers along Malioboro street, in the heart of Yokyakarta. Not to mention the sad encounters with beggers on the streets. The local authority had to put up signs as below to curb the situation. Wherever we go, there will always be someone (at times many such persons) who would offer any form of service ... parking guide, crossing street etc. etc ... for a small amount of money ... just to earn a living!

The "Jejak Jogja" project initiated by the BTRP 08 (Dec'08-Apr"09) students has certainly been a fruitful effort. Besides learning the differences in the planning system, the urban form and visiting interesting tourist attractions in daerah istimewa Yokyakarta and Surakarta, the experience about life through walking the streets of Jogja is the most priceless lesson that the students could learn ... this certainly cannot be taught through lectures in the classroom. Finally, the friendship that were forged with the UGM's students & staff and also the cheerful Pak Karjo, the tourist guide and the wonderful "mas-mas" from Jom Jalan Travel had certainly made the five-days stay a memorable one.