Introduction; On the road

Abstract

According to the Director-General of Highways in Indonesia, the road network has played an important role in 'national economie development', and has been shown to 'balance regional development, improve people's living standards, accelerate social development and improve international relationship[s]' (Dirjen Bina Marga 1992:2). [...]tropical torrents damaged the existing roads, causing landslides, washing away bridges, or at least causing slipperiness. [...]the big rivers of mainland Southeast Asia (the Irawaddy, the Chao Phraya, and the Mekong), the dozens of smaller rivers, and the seas and straits surrounding insular Southeast Asia provided any number of cheap transportation routes. Not only is it easier to make a field in a selectively logged roadside plot; the microclimate of the road is also favourable to edible animals such as grasshoppers. [...]hunters feel more comfortable shooting birds and wild pigs from the safety of a road than when they have to follow them into the dangerous forest.5 Sakai collect items fallen or thrown from vehicles and put them to their own use.