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Group: Galuh, Kemy, Utari

#englishforjournalism

[iwritethisforu-blog]

The irony of Selapajang: a left-behind district near the busiest airport

Life in the city is expected to be better than life in somewhere else, but unlike in Selapajang area which is located in Tangerang City. Selapajang is just about 100 meters from the Soekarno-Hatta Airport fence and flowed by the Cisadane river. If we pass through Selapajang area, every day we will see unique habits, yet make your heart touched. Most of the Selapajang residents usually bathe and wash clothes in the river.

"Despite the river water looks dirty, it makes the clothes clean. Unlike the ground water that usually turns the clothes to yellow," said Mrs. Marsiah as local resident of Selapajang.

River area along Selapajang is often used by the surrounding people as a place to bathe and wash. These acts become factors that can damage the ecosystem of the river itself. Even more, along the river can be found various kinds of things that are not proper, such as human feces, plastic bags, waste washing and so on.

The Ground water there contains iron, so although it’s filtered, it still turns clothes to yellow. Thus Mrs. Marsiah preferred to use river water for washing and bathing. She regretted the absence of PDAMs that supposed to provide for clean water for Selapajang residents.

Unfortunately, this phenomenon still occurs in a big city like Tangerang. Moreover, this area is  so close to the busiest airport in Indonesia which is also currently doing massive development. Where is the concern and role of the city government?

“There’s no counseling yet from the city government as well as from PDAMs about the water distribution plan here. In fact, they should have,” she said.

Aside from parents, children are often seen swimming with joyful in the river. The most sad thing is that the health of these children become neglected. Supposedly, citizens' health is an important concern for both residents and city government. Regular use of river water with poor levels of pollution, both for washing and bathing, can lead to skin disease and diarrhea. This facts should have given an alarm to the city government to be more concern to the residents in Selapajang.

The government, represented by the irrigation, only pays attention to the problem of weeds in the river.

"The irrigants only come here when the weeds are long enough and already covered the river,” said Mrs. Tia who has been lived in Selapajang for almost 25 years.

The city government should be more than that. The government should look at the habits of the people in Selapajang as something serious and need to be handled.

The problem of distribution of clean water is always associated with the Regional Water Company (PDAM). Public Relations Division of Tangerang City PDAM Suselo spoke up about the distribution of clean water in Selapajang.

“In 2017, the City Government targets about 13,000 additional customers from each area. In the process of absorption of these customers, we invite neighbourhood association, city government, and also community leaders to contribute,” he said.

He said that every two weeks, PDAM comes to a district to do counseling about the benefits of clean water for the body, the procedure of PDAM pipes installation and also about payment procedures.

In accordance with the plans of the city government, PDAM is still developing the pipeline network in Zone I. Zone I includes district of Neglasari, Batu Ceper, Benda, and Cipondoh. The development includes the installation of a pipeline network for 175-500 liters of water capacity. PDAM acknowledged that for the Selapajang region included in Neglasari sub-district is still in the stage of developing pipeline installation.

“Indeed we are still developing and installing a network for Selapajang area. But actually, there are already a public tap that can be used by Selapajang residents,” added Suselo.

He also acknowledged that in order to absorb customers, the PDAM is also working with Bina Marga. Bina Marga had conducted free installation for the poor citizens in Selapajang who will then be diverted into PDAM customers. The process is not difficult, but according to him, the conditions in Selapajang is also caused by the uncooperative of the residents there.

“There are people who uninstalled the pipe installation, even though it’s a free installation from Bina Marga,”

“Sometimes there are people who feel bothered by things like this and go back to their old habits to wash clothes in the river,” said Suselo who regretted the response of citizens.

Suselo expects for the future everyone should contribute for the distribution of clean water, not only from the PDAM, but also all the layers of citizens and city government. Sure thing positive responses from residents about clean water distribution programs are also needed.

Furthermore, cooperation of all the parties is indeed a vital role for such issues. In this case, city government that has the obligation to provide solutions to the problems of citizens and people who want to set aside their respective ego will make an effective development. The cooperation will make Selapajang become an area that can blend with the development of the surrounding area, such as Soekarno-Hatta Airport. Because, bathing and washing in the river are a wrong and dangerous act, not only for river ecosystems, but also for the health and safety of the Selapajang citizens.

Everyday activities are never separated from the use of clean water. But then, Selapajang located not far from Soekarno-Hatta Airport still has a problem with the supply of clean water as a primary need. Unlike if we look at the airport fence located not far from Selapajang, many planes are passing over Selapajang, and many tall poles indicate there is massive development at the airport. It is an irony that still happens around us. Selapajang may be just one of many regions that have this irony. But with the cooperation between city government and society in Selapajang, it is expected to make Selapajang have a better standard of living. 

Group: Galuh, Yoga, Ruben, Kemy, Utari

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