Bandung -a City of Irony-

“Paris van Java”, the saying which strengthen Bandung as a wonderful place to visit and a warm place to live in. Since the day when Indonesia was under control the Netherlands Monarchy, Bandung has been in the top list of recreation site for the official and the functionary of the Netherlands who worked and lived in Indonesia because of its beautiful scenery, climate and topography. This history of 3, 5 century continues into this ages of information, most people in Indonesia would love to visit Bandung if we asked them. Therefore the government has cleverly encouraged the entrepreneur to build shopping center, FOs, recreation site, etc to attract tourists and of course money. And so Bandung has became more and more beautiful and modern.

However, the government has been misleading by the "money". The aim of the "win-win solution" for both the profit and the environment is distorted. Money takes control of everything, even if it means a forest clearing. For example, the northern side of Bandung is going to be a residential area. And it isn't stop here, because of the "domino effect", flood is happening everywhere in wet season, conversely, in dry season we are lack of water; and poverty has been a common sight, in slum areas there are still famine cases, cyst and more which shouldn't happened in a peace city like Bandung. All of these situations are the aftermath of the developments which are not planned well. The government takes plunge by risking the life of the people, not just a mere "life and death situation", but also the quality of their life.

This contradiction makes Bandung a city of irony. The spirit of "Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development (ESSD)" is being conducted wrongly. When some people are having easy and glamour life, some are having 180 degrees different. This has to be a reflection for all of us, and we have to start doing an action to stop all of this.

Good, thanks for posting.