Have a winnebago ?

The last time I took the Pantura road during the Lebaran "Mudik" period was, well, never, actually. In fact I have always spent my Lebaran at home, be it Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Den Haag or Manchester. Any self respecting petrol head would never be seen crawling 1 kph for hours on end as they criss cross Java from one end to another.

Why am I writing about this at all. Ah but in today's KOMPAS, the respected daily appear to argue for a rethink of the Trans Java motorway to be built on 1,200 km of road between Merak and Banyuwangi. By building on its current grote postweg expedition it warns policy makers about making the same mistake that governor general Daendels made when he built that road 200 years ago.

To be brutaly frank this is just about the most daft analysis I read and from Kompas it is even more annoying. Of course the grote postweg did not benefit the people. Did the Kompas reporter remember that Indonesia was ruled by a band of well armed Dutch traders? Hello anybody home?

The piece was directed to policy makers so that they took into considerations such aspects as potential damage to the environment, displacement of people etc. It even interviewed Emil Salim (alas not a relative) who basically cautioned the government to ensure all that is in place.

Ok so it is not all daft in this morning's piece. I completely agree with the observation about potential destructions to rice fields. And I don't understand how an executive plans to "replace" the affected fields with a similar one in another island. Is he talking about transmigration? Ow my gawd ...

Ah but wouldn't it be cool that Trans Java actually becomes a reality ? I have visions of a flotilla of R.V (recreational vehicles) filling up a wide motorway from Jakarta to Surabaya, passing through scenic locations and with plenty of rest areas complete with motels, restaurants (ah obviously need to put up gas stations), swimming pool for the kids ...

Ow this idea is so good I think I won't cancel my lifelong subscription to Kompas despite reading the silly piece ...

But will Trans Java actually be realized? I think the idea has been bandied about for a long time so if it is going to be built, it is about time. If any of you have a spare cash these days (as you do), you might want to quickly grab a strategic land, get talking to a motelier and restaurateur and a fuel marketing company. It may just be an investment which will pay handsomely ...