The Indonesian government understands that time is money. But the clock
is ticking on a pledge to merge Indonesia’s three time zones into one, as the
opposition says it’s all a waste of time.
The government has been promoting
since May a plan that aims to put all parts of the sprawling archipelago nation
into the same time zone as many other Asian countries. Under the plan, all of
Indonesia—which stretches 6,400 kilometers between India and Australia—would be
eight hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, meaning the country’s capital city
would shift one hour ahead of its current time.
The government says the move is
expected to boost business transactions between Indonesia and the regional
financial hubs such as Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Airlines could
also profit through simpler flight schedules, increasing their productivity, it
says.
But it is increasingly evident
that implementation will drag on for a while, if it is done at all. Officials
targeted a start date of Oct. 28 to coincide with the 84th anniversary of the
declaration of one nation and one language by young Indonesian nationalists.
But some residents worry the change could disrupt religious rituals and other
daily habits, and have resisted.
“It’s difficult now to start the
unification [on Oct.28] because we need more time. It takes at least 90 days to
prepare our logistics and transportation system,” said Edib Muslim, spokesman
for the Committee for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic
Development, an institution established by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
last year that has been tasked with promoting the time-zone unification idea to
the public.
Analysts have become increasingly
critical of Mr. Yudhoyono’s government for failing to push through promised
changes, including steps to raise fuel prices to better balance the Indonesian
budget and upgrade infrastructure to make Indonesia more competitive with other
nations. Critics say his government has become too worried about building
consensus to push through reforms supported by investors and business leaders.
While the time-zone idea isn’t
seen as critical by many investors, it is popular among some who would find it
easier to do business in the country. Russia in March reduced its time zones to
nine from 11, while Brazil is considering cutting to one from three.
And it isn’t only monetary gains
that Jakarta has in mind by abolishing the clock divisions—it also hopes to
foster closer ties among the country’s more than 1,128 ethnic groups. With the
country split into three zones, the thinking goes, it’s easier for groups to
view themselves as part of different regions than as Indonesians first.
Hatta Rajasa, Indonesia’s economy
minister, says he isn’t giving up on the plan. Mr. Rajasa initiated a study in
2004, when he was the minister of research and technology, to examine the
benefits and costs of putting the country on one time zone. After years of
considering the benefits of the idea, there is wide support for it within the
government and the business community. Mr. Rajasa says now the government needs
to work harder to sell idea to the public.
“There are still some technical
and sociological obstacles—many people still don’t understand the benefits of
the time-zone unification,” said Mr. Rajasa, who is widely expected to be one
of the presidential candidates in Indonesia’s 2014 election.
He said the plan won’t be
implemented by the target date and declined to give a new timetable, but he
says he’s optimistic it will eventually go through.
But some people wonder if it will
ever come together, especially with the country’s attention increasingly
shifting toward the presidential election in 2014. Some analysts say reforms
could stall further if candidates resist taking a stand on issues that divide
parts of the country.
“Indonesia is a multicultural
society with so many diverse mentalities, habits and customs,” said Partini, a
sociologist at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta who like many
Indonesians goes by only one name. Ms. Partini said she is concerned that
merging time zones could spark restlessness within Indonesian society by
disrupting daily religious and other practices.
Plenty of locals dismiss that
line of thinking, though. Rinza Sandy, director of marketing at the Atjeh Post
daily newspaper in Banda Aceh, the westernmost large city in Indonesia, said he
wouldn’t mind the idea of waking up one hour earlier if the rule is enacted,
nor does he believe it will adversely affect his five-times-a-day praying
practice.
“The (Islamic) praying times are
not based on the clock time, but with the position of the sun,” he said.
I Made Sentana
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