Jakarta Part 1
My experiences in Jakarta were full of ambiguities. When entering the capital city by train coming from Yogyakarta, the metropolitan area is fading in from rice fields. But that’s misleading as there are human-made structures almost everywhere on the Island of Java with its about 180million people. The reason I went for four days was a peer group and action workshop about Urban Renewal in the Historic Town Centre of Jakarta [in German]. This report about my short trip will merely introduce you to some things in Jakarta depicted in black-and-white, so that you might want to make the conversion into a more holistic picture by yourself.
The first day was exciting, indeed. I arrived at the central station Gambir. Its’ location is right beside the Monument Nasional “Monas”, which is 132 m high with its’ peak covered in +30kg of gold and which is surrounded by a huge park. The workshop’s location was just at the edge of the park in the Balai Kota, which is the government’s building complex. That’s why the event took place on the 22nd floor with a full view on the Monas. On the first day various speakers gave introductions and some insightful presentations about the city in general and Kota Tua, the primary object of interest at the workshop. Unfortunately, I missed the tour on the first day due to a problem with the schedule. Anyway, a journalist and me had the chance to chat that morning about the life & politics in Jakarta. Since he only attended the first day, Adi’s report is rather short though.

After the last session, I picked up my luggage and went to the hotel by using a Gojek. That’s one of the motor bike taxis, which you order by an app. The hotel’s location is in “Jalan Kebun Kacang” — the peanut farming street. Other streets are e.g. “Jl. Kebun Jeruk (Oranges)”. Unfortunately, asbestos is still a big thing all over Indonesia. Also the quality of some houses was pretty low. But of course, there are some newer and nicer houses, including an occasional three/four story hotel like the one I stayed in. In the area around the hotel I saw some children playing in a small alley with a ball, found plenty of plastic trash located in too many places, and saw cats, cockroaches and rats happily living side by side.
The first impressions about the local food stalls, called warung, met with what I’ve read about JKT beforehand. For example, I once read about Jakarta’s difficulties to supply the city with fresh vegetables and, thus, maybe that was the reason why it took me a while before I found a warung which was serving some vegetables. During the late dinner, children of a very young age began to gather around me. A few of them left after being put on notice by the stall owner. One boy about the age of six or seven remained sitting in front of me — at about 10 pm. A street busker was playing the guitar and kept singing beside my table. The “Pak” brought my “Cap Cay”. About 10 million people live in Jakarta alone. As I learned in my studies and other conversations, Jakarta ranges among the cities with the highest GINI-coefficient, which represents the level of social inequality. This event, however, did not have yet the full effect on me so that “facts” and “reality” produced a full recognition of the social divide. But I couldn’t resist that particular impression soon after leaving the warung. It hit me when I took a different way back to Jalan Kebun Kacang and saw four high-quality shopping malls. And there it was: The social division right in front of my eyes.

The other day, Wednesday afternoon, I entered one of the malls and found the exact things I was imagining before. If you’re reading this text, you will probably have an understanding of what I mean. Anyway, due to my study background (Area Studies about Southeast Asia/ Urban Geography & Disaster Risk Management), I always perceived Jakarta as a hazardous area for there are natural, human-made and hybrid forms of hazards. For instance, there is land inundation due to the urbanisation, which is increasing the flood risk level caused by torrential rains and the sea. Thus for me it almost a no-brainer that malls add to natural as well as social problems, which need to be addressed through comprehensive planning and investments. So I felt real appreciation when all of the workshop’s participants considered the value of communication with local stakeholders as an essential aspect of improving the city.
On Thursday morning, I visited the Indonesian National Museum. I enjoyed it a lot and can only recommend you to visit it. After 2,5 hours, I got myself a coffee and postcards from the gift shop. Then, I was heading north to Kota Tua by Gojek, again. The buildings of higher quality in Kota Tua area are around the Fatahillah Square and few streets nearby. That’s it. It is evident that beyond this area a whole lot of history has happened. Sadly, this history is not conserved in any meaningful way. Except for three museums and the historical Café Batavia, there are not many things to do or visit. So, I left that part soon to find the sea north of Jakarta. After passing many blocks, I entered a major street full of large vehicles on the way to the harbour. But soon I ended my walk due to the dark fumes from the exhausts and the heat at 1 pm.

Prior to that, I saw the ruins of a building on the right. I assure that everyone will notice that building because of the big tree growing out of one side of the building. Nearby, there was a way for pedestrians between a river and the houses. That street was interesting too, so I made a video while walking through it. The houses are all in a bad condition. Except one. That is the “Rumah Contoh”, the Exemplary Building showing how everything could look. In that video, you would hear me choking due to the stink of the polluted water. You would hear me making an ironic comment about a sign reading something like “A clean river is good for your health”. I also asked myself how people can use the river bank as a public place due to all that stink. In other words, the environment is as bad as the quality of the houses.

What I will remember about my trip to Jakarta is the following. There is a metropolitan area, which was once described by the first president, Soekarno, as the train that pulls Indonesia into the future. The people I met at the workshop and all the other Jakartans I encountered are sitting somewhere inside that train. There are some announcements made through a rusty PA-system. The train left even before the colonial past but got a major upgrade during the conquest, and many people were kicked off the train during some brutal times of the history. Currently, the PA is upgraded into a “Smart System”. Typical for a capital city, one can find the most interesting things in the museum(s). Tellingly for a developing country, however, the social inequality is extremely high. The workshop was under the impact of an election campaign, which many people considered as problematic and crucial for the future of the city. More on this in Part 2.
On a personal note, I am glad about the encounters with many friendly people from around the world. That’s why I want to relate us, the generations living right now, with the undercurrent processes causing transformation processes of all kind. I learnt that everyone needs to pay more attention to each other. Otherwise, it will be difficult to do investments into structural and non-structural mitigation measures in places like Jakarta. I also learnt that good governance cannot act against the interests of private stakeholders like homeowners. Finally, I will never forget the smog-infested streets and the poor housing conditions of the people. To sum up, there is a clear need to assess everyones needs and livelihood approaches, and better laws.

