Cisauk and the People Left Behind

When I moved to Cisauk, Tangerang, almost five years ago, this area felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. There was little around except dusty roads and local people with limited access to education. I hate to say it, but that was the reality.

One day, I stopped by a small local shop and saw a woman handing out wedding invitations to others. She was younger than me, so I assumed the invitation was for her wedding, perhaps her second, as people in the area often married at a young age. But it turned out it was not hers. It was her daughter’s wedding invitation.

I was astonished. She was still young, even younger than me, which meant her daughter was barely a teenager.

“Sixteen,” she said. Her daughter was going to marry a construction foreman, who I assumed was a middle-aged man and had probably been married before.

“Is it legal here for someone underage to get married?” I asked, knowing that Indonesian law sets the minimum marriage age at 19 for both women and men.

“The neighborhood head made her older on her documents,” she replied, leaving me even more speechless.

Another time, a woman who sold nasi uduk told me that she used to live in Sampora, an area of Cisauk that has now become part of the new BSD center. She and her family sold their land, as did many other residents, and a well-known shopping mall, AEON, now stands on the land they once owned. It is a place where people arrive in luxury cars to shop, while the former landowners can only look around.

The nasi uduk seller was displaced and moved to a small settlement behind my housing cluster. I am not sure how long that neighborhood will survive, given how quickly the area is developing and how new housing complexes are springing up like mushrooms after the rain. It makes me sad to think that, someday, she may be displaced yet again.

After almost five years of living here, not much has changed for the local community, even as rice fields, gardens and vacant land have been transformed into housing developments filled with people from different parts of the country.  Local people sold their land to developers, who turned it into housing clusters whose prices have risen severalfold, putting them far beyond the reach of the people who once owned the land.

Physically, Cisauk, once a rural community, has transformed into a “city,” while many of its original residents have been pushed further to the outskirts by rapid development, without adequate protection or support from the authorities.

Feature: Long commutes, packed trains - Jakarta workers endure long rides for affordable homes

Feature: Long commutes, packed trains - Jakarta workers endure long rides for affordable homes

by Hayati Nupus

JAKARTA, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- For Putri Adityowati, mornings at Bogor Train Station in Indonesia's West Java province always bring a racing heartbeat, as she joins hundreds of other passengers jostling to squeeze into a commuter train bound for Jakarta.

If she is lucky, the civil servant secures a seat, opens her laptop, and uses the hour-long ride to clear backlogs, coordinate online with colleagues, or simply catch up on sleep. If not, she must stand pressed tightly among fellow commuters until the train reaches its destination.

"When I first relocated from Jakarta to Bogor with my family, I was shocked by the long and exhausting commute. But I'm not alone; millions of other workers experience the same thing," Putri told Xinhua recently.

Like her, many Jakarta employees choose to live in satellite cities such as Bogor and Bekasi in West Java, or Tangerang and Rangkasbitung in Banten Province. Sky-high housing prices and steep rents in Jakarta push families to buy homes in the suburbs, even if it means daily journeys that take a toll physically and mentally.

Even when affordable homes exist within Jakarta, they are often tiny units, unsuitable for families and commonly located in cramped alleys with poor sunlight and ventilation.

As a result, millions of suburban workers commute to Jakarta each day, relying on public transport systems such as the mass rapid transit (MRT), light rail transit (LRT), commuter trains, and TransJakarta buses. Fares start from as low as 3,000 rupiah (around 0.18 U.S. dollars), making them cheap and efficient, though passengers must often endure crowded conditions. The alternative, driving private vehicles, means battling endless traffic jams, paying higher costs, and arriving at work with more fatigue.

For Putri, Bogor offers a more livable environment for raising her children, with its cooler climate, greener surroundings, and better air quality compared to Jakarta's crowded neighborhoods.

When she cannot find a seat, she passes the time listening to podcasts or reading novels, once even finishing an entire book in one trip. Yet the commute can be punishing: on one occasion, she fainted in the packed train and later woke up in the care of station staff.

Other commuters share similar struggles. Journalist Gusty da Costa and his wife chose to buy a home in Bekasi with a mortgage, even though the decision requires him to spend nearly two hours reaching his office in Jakarta's Sudirman Central Business District.

"If we lived in Jakarta, we could only afford to rent, not to own a house. And rent is very expensive," he said.

His routine involves an online motorcycle taxi ride to East Bekasi Station, followed by 45 minutes on the LRT to Dukuh Atas Station, then another short ride by motorcycle taxi or bus. Still, Gusty said things have improved since the LRT began operating in 2023.

"Before, I had to take intercity buses, which cost more and got stuck in traffic jams for hours," he explained. On the LRT, he now spends time scrolling through social media, catching up on breaking news, or arranging interviews with sources.

For Kecik Eko Ernasari, the daily journey is even more daunting: a 130-kilometer commute by train from her home in Maja, Banten Province, to Bogor via Jakarta. Each round trip takes up to eight hours. Years ago, when her office was still in Jakarta, the journey required only about 90 minutes. Today, even though her office has relocated to Bogor, she remains in Maja since she only needs to report to work twice a week.

On her long train rides, Kecik has seen it all: the shoving of passengers trying to squeeze into carriages, or a woman talking loudly to herself, leaving fellow riders bewildered.

"Challenging as it is, the commuter line is still safer than the buses at terminals, where anyone can get on or off without checks. And above all, the fares are very affordable," she said.

Source: https://english.news.cn/20250825/86226b74a04942368eaaab4eec825bf9/c.html