SBY hitches a ride on motorbike to race track in Jakarta

Motorbikes are as ingrained in Indonesian society as rice cookers. I see 10 year old kids riding them and whole families traveling on them. Ika has had a motorbike accident a couple of years ago, but still prefers them to cars. I often get ‘tooted’ by passing motorbikes looking to pick up a passenger for money. A motorbike taxi is called an ‘ojek’ and in remote parts of the country its your only option. The idea of riding on the back of someone else’s motorbike with no helmet doesn’t thrill me and any time I have done this I tell the driver ‘please go slowly’.

Yesterday was a big day for Indonesian sports. The A1GP was held in Jakarta and its parts of the new international car racing alternative to Formula 1. Indonesian President SBY was due to open the event but could not get through the traffic. He opted to jump on the back of a motorbike and do what everyone else does, hop a few curbs and scoot between cars.