Anyone outside Indonesia would be wrong, but are forgiven if they think that Indonesia is a basket case that lurches from one disaster or tragedy to another.

Yesterday we heard of another Adam Air mishap, less than two months since the same airlines’ KI 574 disappeared over Sulawesi. Today we hear of another ferry disaster, again less than two months since the Senopati Nusantara ferry sank off Central Java, killing at least 200 people.

Yesterday’s ferry disaster took place off Jakarta when a ferry, the Levina I, enroute between Jakarta and Bangka island, caught fire. At least 15 people were killed and 60 others injured.

This latest incident makes it blatantly apparent that safety in all public transportation (planes, trains, busses and ferries) is extremely suspect because of a lack of enforcement of safety regulations.

To be fair, it is a monumental job to get public transport safe in Indonesia. It is a big country and its may islands make regulation a difficult task but, as the Chinese say, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Unfortunately, there is every indication that that even that step is not taken.

An example is this report from El Shinta radio, quoted by The Jakarta Post:

Tanjung Priok administrator said the ill-fated ferry carried 227 people, 42 trucks, 8 cars, and four motorcycles when it left the port at 1.30 a.m. Thursday.

But Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa said that there were 308 people on board of the ferry.

Hatta Radjasa is the same minister that made the terrible blunder of not checking his facts and telling Adam Air KI 574 passengers’ relatives that the plane’s wreck had been found and that there were 12 survivors – when it was to be weeks after that they were to find pieces of the plane elsewhere.

It looks like he’s doing it again, if the Tanjung Priok administrator’s facts are right. Gawd! Why is President SBY surrounded by such imbeciles and fools and why doesn’t he just sack them and put capable people in their places?

(photo from tempointeraktif.com)