Jakarta's 'bemo' library brings books to kids

The sound of Sutino Hadi's sputtering mobile library fills children with delight as they wait to dive into stacks of short sto-ries and picture books.

"With this, we're becom-ing fond of reading," said Fir-da Dwi Sagita, a third-grader living in one of Jakarta's poorest neighborhoods.

Sutino Hadi has converted his three-wheeled, purple auto-rickshaw, known locally as a bemo, into a mobile library for children who don't have easy access to books.

The reading materials are donated by universities and libraries.

"There's no need to go look for other places or libraries that are too far away," said another third-grader Alfandi Mardiansyah.

Hadi said children flock to his brightly-coloured three-wheeler when it arrives in their neighborhood.

"It draws in children auto-matically," Hadi said of his bemo which also serves as a makeshift cinema showing educational films to children on weekends.

The days of bemos ferry-ing people and goods through Jakarta's streets are coming to an end.

Imported from Japan in the early 1960s, the three-wheeled bemo was for dec-ades a key mode of public transportation in the sprawl-ing Indonesian capital.

Today, its high emission levels are deemed environ-mentally unfriendly. The Jakarta government is grad-ually enforcing a ban announced in June on the rustic three-wheelers.

When that day comes for Hadi's bemo, he hopes some-one else will take up the mobile library.

"I hope that the library idea will be continued by younger generations with other vehicles," he said.

XINHUA—REUTERS