Public Transport Bus: Kupang (Indonesia) – Dili (Timor-Leste)

Dili, 22 January 2023. 

I like riding public transport bus; I say this because I took bus in my college student times. Among others, why I like taking bus is because of social interaction and travel experience. For traveling, I don’t like go by airplane because I will not see new places along the way. I have done long-haul bus trips. The first one was from Bandung, West Indonesia to Bali. A google map shows me 1k KMs distance. The road geometry is not always straight or highway like. The second one was from Kansas, USA – Saint Louis – Chicago – Iowa – back to Kansas; I did also several other intermittent bus trips in other cities in the States. I am more excited sitting on double decker bus. I could observe things along the way, and much closer.    

Unfortunately, we don’t have public transport bus system here in Timor-Leste. I mean modern bus system. We do have bus services serving Dili city to municipalities. But they are more like transportation means than convenience and comfortability. In the year of 2023, the heyday and unstoppable of innovation and technology in transportation, Dili city, the capital of Timor-Leste does not even have urban bus system. Commuters are moved by microlets a kind of mini bus, and private vehicles. I don’t see a good future for this city if there is no bus system serving as mass transport to move people together so that their trips don’t harm their very environment and global.

It is good news to hear that Indonesian government and Timor-Leste government are about to launch a cross border/cross countries bust service. It is not known when the launch will take place but is seemingly imminent. As the picture shows, the bus is medium size, around 20-40 seat busses from the government of Indonesia which will operate between Kupang and Dili. Timor Leste side is also supposed to do the same. But there is no news yet on the preparation.

Even though the buses are medium size; I think they have ideal conditions for convenience and comfortability. I try so say that the busses are going to be serving with better standards than what we are having here in Timor-Leste.  Those are airconditioned, scheduled trips, organized ticketing system, and of course have professional and licensed drivers to drive.

Launch of the bus service will become a great precedence of transport development here in Timor-Leste. As I alluded previously that there is no improved bus system to start with, this initiative would provide a baseline. What I mean baseline is that we can test the initiative to learn from and improve. It is a test for market, and many other aspects. I don’t expect this project to be successful at this stage because I do believe that the firs test must have failures and that is the only way to bring about better public transport services for this country. There must be a start.

*I hope this gives you an inspiration.  

Structural and Systemic Problems Make Young People in Dili Get Wilder

Dili 07 January 2023

It was heartbreaking to watch the video in which a guy jumped off motorbike stabbing a young boy walking at the street. It happened on 06 January 2023 around mid-night. The young boy was stabbed multiple times until he could barely walk and fell off eventually. According to information he went dead right there at the scene before the police arrived. The video attracted my attention because the way the suspect stabbing is scary. It is also sad to see that young people nowadays are much wilder, and extremely hostile to each other more than my time when I was at their age.

Naturally crimes happen anywhere in the world, even in the most peaceful countries. I consider that as a way the Nature processes, people born to die. But in the case of Timor-Leste. The pattern of young people conflict indicates some structural and systemic problem in this country. I thought that poor education system contributes to this outcome. Young people are not well educated from school, and I would say from family as well. One generic and biased personal observation. When I observe school youngsters grouping along the street of Dili, they are not disciplined. They don’t respect public street norms, they bully each other, they interfere one another, and worst they fight, sometimes. This type of attitude and behavior are brought in to the society eventually.

Similarly, desperation for economy in the country also contributes. What young people mostly do at home is nothing but just sitting in their neighborhoods. There is no work to do because there is no work indeed. I don’t think the State can recruit all people to work for government. Even if there are jobs in industries, they don’t have skills. They become desperate because of the nothing-to-do. They find each other to plan for activities such as drinking alcohol, gambling, etc. These activities are poisons for peace when done in poor society.

All culminates in the martial art fight phenomenon. All these years, after independence, martial arts conflict has become the major reason why people fight each other, it even affects the political and democratic processes. Is it not horrible? In this country, when there is dissenting opinion, defamation, harassment, and other serious conflicts or crimes happen among individuals and community members, most people don’t seek for justice, they don’t go to tribunal. There are many reasons why, but some are because they are not able in terms knowledge, and resources. Another is because they don’t trust the judicial system. Officials in law enforcement entities are partisan because being inclined to their groups' principles. As a result, some people make their own decisions, they act directly, they fight-they kill to feel like getting justice.  

*I hope this gives you an inspiration