Jakarta at 474<\/p>\n
It may be a sign of the times that Indonesia's capital city,
\nJakarta, marked its 474th anniversary on Friday all but unnoticed
\neven by the its own citizens. This is a far cry from earlier
\nyears, especially in the 1970s, when the city was governed with
\nboth forward-looking vision and energy by its most successful
\ngovernor yet, the liberal-minded governor Ali Sadikin.<\/p>\n
Until the late 1960s, Jakarta was known to the international
\ncommunity as \"the world's biggest village.\" Its population of
\nseveral millions had far outgrown the city's public services and
\ninfrastructure, which had been planned by the previous Dutch city
\nadministrators to serve some 600,000 people at the peak of its
\nprojected growth. Few modern buildings existed and slums were
\nbeginning to encroach on residential neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
It was Ali Sadikin, better known to Jakarta's citizenry as
\nBang (Brother) Ali, who first tried to put some order in the
\nsituation. Under the slogan of men-Jakarta-kan orang Jakarta
\n(making Jakartans out of Jakarta's inhabitants), he was
\nresponsible for giving this city much of its present look. What
\nhe meant was that Jakartans should be made to feel proud to be
\nJakartans in order to motivate them to actively contribute to the
\ncity's development.<\/p>\n
To that end he initiated the Jakarta Fair, an annual event
\nthat was meant to be a venue to promote business and industry as
\nwell as to provide entertainment for the people. With his
\nencouragement, the popular Ancol Dreamland seaside playground on
\na beach in North Jakarta was built. To encourage the city's
\ngrowth as one of the nation's cultural hubs he built the Taman
\nIsmail Marzuki (TIM) arts center and completed the neglected
\nplanetarium project inside its grounds. He restored and revived
\nthe Jakarta Playhouse, or Gedung Kesenian, near Pasar Baru and
\ndeveloped the city's infrastructure, never mind if some of the
\nmoney had to come from legalized gambling -- a method of
\nfinancing that was strongly opposed in some quarters of the
\ncommunity.<\/p>\n
That era seems to have passed with the ending of governor Ali
\nSadikin's tenure in the late 1970s. From then until the present
\nday, most governors of Jakarta seem to have done little more than
\npreserve and build on the groundwork already laid by Bang Ali.
\nBut, although it must be said that some, or even most, of the
\nlater governors who followed in Ali Sadikin's footsteps lacked
\nthe vision and energy that was necessary to keep up the momentum
\nof the city's development and renewal, to be fair it must also be
\nnoted that the times have not always been favorable for Jakarta's
\nsubsequent governors, competent as they may have been as chief
\nadministrators.<\/p>\n
Certainly, as the city marked its 474th anniversary this week,
\nconditions in Jakarta have drastically changed. These days, it
\nseems like an overindulgence to talk about growth and development
\nin Jakarta, and yet, growth and development are needed even more
\nthan ever before. Even though new roads and urban toll roads have
\nbeen built, roads are constantly clogged with traffic, one of the
\nreasons being that public transportation is so chaotic, unsafe
\nand decrepit that everyone who can afford it prefers to drive a
\nprivate car or motorcycle to commute to and from work.<\/p>\n
The green, open spaces that are needed to keep the city's air
\nhealthy and serve as playgrounds for children and the populace at
\nlarge, keep diminishing to make way for all sorts of public or
\nprivate buildings. In brief, there is still a lot of work to be
\ndone by Jakarta's city administrators as the city turns 474 years
\nold. A mission impossible? Perhaps. But even a little improvement
\nto start with would be welcome.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jakarta-at-474-1447899208",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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