Cult hysteria: Third mall from the sun<\/p>\n
It is a well-documented fact that Jakartans don't seem to be
\nable to get enough of shopping malls. Despite the half-million-
\nodd plazas that have already opened their deodorized doors to the
\ncapital's swelling masses, more are being built all the time.
\nCurrent drains on the country's precarious cement reserves can be
\nseen under construction in both Senayan and behind the Hotel
\nIndonesia traffic circle, and all this in spite of the fact that
\nthese areas already house two malls a piece.<\/p>\n
Yes, Jakartans love their malls. They encapsulate the pride
\nand hubris of the nation's bright, new, free market future. Well,
\nthat is what the mall developers would have us believe at any
\nrate. However, this affection for malls would appear, to this
\ncorrespondent at least, to be a developer's self-fulfilling
\nprophecy. If people have nowhere else to go in their leisure time
\nother than malls, where are they going to end up? If someone had
\nthe vision and bravery to build a sports center, a theater, an
\nart house or even a park instead of another plaza, are we to
\nbelieve that no one would go to them?<\/p>\n
I am not here to bemoan the city's woeful lack of public
\nspace, however, and perhaps the mall has indeed won the battle
\nfor the 21st century Jakartan soul. A thousand years hence,
\ncyborg archaeologists and anthropologists will unearth Jakarta's
\ngreat plazas, along with petrified Starbucks beakers and mobile
\nphone casings, and pontificate on what a strange religion their
\nancestors practiced in these places. They will theorize upon what
\nmysteries lie behind these modernist temples that will seem to
\nthem as exotic as those of the Aztecs or the Pharoahs.<\/p>\n
If anything, the cult of the mall became even more entrenched
\nin the city's collective consciousness with the opening of
\nCilandak Town Square (or CiToS as it is colloquially known) about
\nthree years ago. In the Town Square, shops have been replaced by
\ncafes and restaurants and the last vestiges of mall functionality
\nhave been eradicated completely in favor of lifestyle hedonism.
\nGoing to the mall has now become an end itself and the Town
\nSquare is perpetually filled with youngsters hanging out, sipping
\ncappuccinos and enjoying the 120-decibel racket of top 40 cover
\nbands playing in the lobby.<\/p>\n
Cafes such as Starbucks, Excelso, Brew & Co. and Mister Bean
\n(ha, ha), restaurants like Mykonos, Izzi Pizza, Tartine and Fish
\n& Co., plus a cinema and two bars, have insured the massive
\nsuccess of the Town Square. The fact that it was built in an area
\nof town housing the kind of people who have the largest
\ndisposable incomes to spend there hasn't harmed it either. To be
\nfair though, the Town Square is a not an unpleasant place in
\nwhich to drink a cup of overpriced coffee; its open-plan,
\ndoorless design being similar to a classic European shopping
\narcade.<\/p>\n
The trouble is, CiToS' runaway success has illuminated dollar
\nsigns in the eyes of other developers who also want a piece of
\nthe non-retail leisure mall action. So now the cafe and
\nrestaurant-filled Town Square concept has been reproduced, with
\nmixed results, in, for example, Dharmawangsa City Walk, just off
\nJl. Fatmawati in South Jakarta, which is an apocalypse of Greco-
\nRoman statuettes and mock Elizabethan lamp standards. Town
\nSquares have also begun to spring up outside of town. There is
\nSerpong Town Square (SeToS), Depok Town Square (DeToS) and Malang
\nTown Square (MaToS). Where will it all end? With no one giving a
\nflying ToS presumably.<\/p>\n
Let us also not forget the dark side of all this relentless
\nmall expansion, a side that lies beneath the surface of all this
\nersatz fun.<\/p>\n
During the construction of CiTos, for example, three houses on
\nJl. TB Simatupang were bulldozed despite the residents' ownership
\nof the land on which they stood and the fact that they had lived
\nthere for 37 years. To be fair, the compulsory appropriation of
\nprivate land for public projects, an issue hitting the headlines
\nat the moment in Indonesia, is something that happens in all
\ncountries. However, when combined with the corruption and shaky
\nlegal system that exist here, you have to feel sorry for the poor
\npoor people who are turfed out of their homes in order to make
\nway for more malls.<\/p>\n
Demolish the town to build the town square, a strange idea
\nindeed. There is no standing in the way of progress though and
\nsoon we'll all be living, eating, sleeping and dreaming in a
\nmall. I have seen the future -- and it is cappuccino colored.<\/p>\n
--Simon Pitchforth<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/cult-hysteria-third-mall-from-the-sun-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }