Pak Ogah (Agus putra gowa)

The increasing number of vehicles has led to the increasing amount of traffic jam. In Makassar, the traffic jam phenomenon becomes a commodity for some people. They use the street in order to get money from the street users especially cars. They are Pak Ogah, a group of people who arrange the traffic at intersections or at theT-Junctions. Their help might be meaningful to Some people, however, lots of people feel irritated due to their arrogant treat to deliberately stop the other street users.

Pak Ogah is a so-called term addressed to a group of people who help the street users (mostly cars) to rotate at the intersections or at the T-Junctions. They guide the cars passing the Intersecction and expect to get money from the drivers as a merit of what they have done. Most of them are jobless and dropped out students. Sometimes, Pak Ogah looks helpful because they can arrange the traffic jam at some intersections. On the other words, they help the traffic police in managing the traffic.

However, there are some awkward phenomena of their presence. Pak ogah aimed to get money from the street users. That is why, They tend to prioritize private cars rather than publics or motor bikes. They take across the people who give them money in which it is resulted on the dense of vehicles. Furthermore, Their treat often resulted on more complicated situation. The traffic jam is getting worse. In addition, Pak Ogah often scratch the vehicles whose drivers do not pay any money. Therefore, It is obviously unsettled the societies who have a car.     

On the other hand, the government and police department seem support the presence of pak Ogah. They even provide green waistcoat labelled “Banpol” or Police assistant. According to the Deputy Chief Traffic of Polrestabes Makassar Kompol Idrus Usman, Police department did not provide any waistcoat for pak Ogah. It is originally an initiative from Makassar Local Government. “every district police recruits some people who want to help the police department without any pay”. He said.

This situation raises questions among societies. what are the main responsibilities of the Traffic police? It seems that They empower pak Ogah in managing the traffic. Furthermore, they let them exist on the street. The Government commitment in realizing secure and comfort city is aslo still questionable. We do not see any brilliant approach regarding to this case.

In my opinion, Pak ogah are only poor people who try to survive. They do this job in order to get money for food. They have family to feed, to fulfill daily needs, or to defray their children’s school fee. If they have better job, they will probably leave this activity. Better job will make them more prosperous. It has been the role of Government to guarantee the live of the society. At least, they have job to fulfill their daily needs. Therefore, job fields are really urgent for them.  

To sum up, the phenomenon of Pak Ogah is only a small piece of social problems faced by Makassar. Pak ogah maight bring positive impact to some people, but their negative effects are more. This phenomenon reflects the weakness of police officers in managing the traffic. In addition, It is also presumably the symbol of Government dereliction in terms of people’s prosperity.