TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said he planned on turning the capital into a cashless society and streamlining all sorts of transactions.

“People don’t need to carry five different cards to pay for five different things. Just one card for everything,” he said on Thursday, January 29, 2015.

Ahok said he wanted all transactions with street vendors in the city to use e-money, and that the culinary area at the National Monument (Monas) complex would apply cashless transactions. “So if you want to buy food at street vendors in Monas, you can no longer use cash, but e-money instead,” he said.

Ahok also wanted that in the future tourists visiting the capital would only need to purchase one e-money card for all kinds of transactions. “The tourists can buy the e-money visa cards to access anything,” he said, adding that this system would deter vendors from cheating.

Ahok said he hoped the e-money system would synergize with his smart-city concept. He took for example that in the future people would have to tap their e-money cards at the gates of Transjakarta shelters to find out about the buses’ routes and schedules.

Ahok added he was upbeat that the smart city concept would work if the government enforced cashless transactions in the city. “I need to get going with this because I will only be here [as governor] until 2017. I don’t know if I will be re-elected,” he said.

DINI PRAMITA