Friendship on wheels: Jokowi and Albanese rode Spedagi bicycles crafted by Singgih earlier this month. — AFP
AS Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo led Anthony Albanese around the lush gardens of a presidential palace south of Jakarta earlier this month, he presented the new Australian prime minister with an unusual gift: a bamboo bike.
The night before, designer Singgih Susilo Kartono learnt it would be the Spedagi model he crafts in a small village on the island of Java that the leaders would ride side by side in a unique moment of bicycle diplomacy.
Albanese would tuck his trousers into his socks after the statesmen stripped off their jackets and ties and donned helmets, setting off on the light and environmentally friendly two-wheelers for the symbolic bike ride.
Singgih Susilo Kartono
Singgih, 54, said the diplomatic gesture was a “special, magical moment” for him after years spent working on the bike.
“It’s not about the bike being bought by Jokowi, but the fact that it was used to welcome Albanese,” he said.
When not arming world leaders with new bamboo wheels, Kartono uses his sustainable bike craftsmanship to bring jobs to locals and show villagers how they can make use of the environment around them.
“I train youths here who lack skills. We have a system to train unskilled people until they can create quality products,” he said.
The model, named after the Indonesian words “sepeda” for bicycle and “pagi” for morning, is built by a team of 15 employees at a workshop in Singgih’s village in Central Java, where he saddles up for his own bike ride every day.
Fast-growing bamboo stalks are cut by his team, coated with preservatives, dried and laminated before being combined with other parts to assemble the sturdy bike frame.Pound for pound, bamboo is as strong as steel when used in lightweight structures, studies have shown, with a high tensile strength that makes it a worthy and environmentally friendly substitute.
A fully assembled Spedagi bamboo bike can take a week of intricate work, fetching up to 15 million rupiah (RM4,450). Some have been sold as far away as Japan, company co-founder Tri Wahyuni said. — AFP
