Jakarta in its megalomaniacal, glittering glory<\/p>\n
B. Herry-Priyono, Lecturer, Driyarkara School of Philosophy,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
On the opening day of the Jakarta Fair 2003, which is part of
\nthe 476th anniversary of the capital city, I was in the
\ncommercial district of Kelapa Gading, whose glittering facade had
\njoined the glitter of Jakarta.<\/p>\n
A few hundred meters southward, I was startled by a tightly
\nfenced-in area measuring over 17 hectares, where heavy
\nconstruction was underway. From the boards posted along the
\nfence, I learned that the area is to be a colossal commercial
\ncenter called Gading Square upon which a glittering world is to
\nbe erected: A shopping arcade, the Parisian Walk, the Venetian
\nPlaza, etc.<\/p>\n
Moving a few hundred meters eastward, I saw what used to be a
\npublic space and a horse-race track also being fenced in. I
\ncalled a friend with a vast knowledge of Jakarta city planning,
\nand learned that the area was soon to become the Korean
\nCommercial District.<\/p>\n
On the way home, my soul was haunted by an echo of a comment
\nuttered by a shocked British friend when he visited Jakarta last
\nyear: \"My gosh, I have never seen so many children and young
\npeople hanging around in mega-malls like in Jakarta; not in
\nLondon, not in Paris, neither in New York nor in Tokyo.\" I could
\nnot agree more. That evening, my mind was disturbed by the image
\nof an area crowded out by three commercial centers within close
\nproximity of each other.<\/p>\n
There is no modernity without a city, but some cities are more
\nphony than others in its pretense at modernity. One such phony
\ncity is Jakarta.<\/p>\n
I was thinking of the disappearance of so many public spaces,
\nhistorical sites and conservation areas, and of the many
\nevictions of the urban poor that preceded the mushrooming of
\nmega-malls in Jakarta in the last 10 years or so. More
\nspecifically, I was thinking of the psychological makeup that is
\nbeing created by such an onslaught of shopping centers.<\/p>\n
During my six years of study in Europe, I took a chance to
\nlearn why and how the great cities of the world, like London and
\nParis, jealously guard public spaces such as parks, conservation
\nareas and historical sites. Those cities would never replace
\nthese public spaces with malls or any other commercial centers,
\neven if the latter is judged highly profitable. It is not only
\necology that is evident, but also societal psychology.<\/p>\n
Consider ourselves frequenters of mega-malls. We are
\nsurrounded by saleable items whose availability is within the
\ngrasp of our hands. The items could be anything from dried fish
\nto the latest Ferrari sports car, but everything is there before
\nour eyes, luring us to grab them up.<\/p>\n
Frequenting mega-malls is not simply a physical matter of our
\ncoming or going. It involves the shaping of both the content and
\nthe form of our mental landscape. More than anything else, the
\nimprint of mall life is the crowdedness of immediacy and the
\nmobbish quality of the instantaneous.<\/p>\n
The distance between us and the consumer items increasingly
\ndisappears. Instead of prudently choosing our purchases, what is
\nhappening is that our collective psyche is gradually being
\ncannibalized by the seduction of the items.<\/p>\n
It is here that most mainstream economic theories seem to have
\ngone amiss when they say that the consumers' independence is
\nsacred. It is also through this process that the lexical
\ndefinition of \"consumerism\" as \"the protection and promotion of
\nconsumers' interests in relation to the producer\" has degenerated
\ninto \"concocted consumption\" in the new political-economic
\nliterature. Thus, the adjective \"consumerist\" has also gradually
\nacquired its vicious meaning.<\/p>\n
What has all this to do with Jakarta's spatial and social
\nfabric? The unfettered rise of mall culture which is increasingly
\ncommanding Jakarta's fabric of existence seems to have reached an
\nalarming level. It is not the presence of mega-malls that is
\nproblematic, but its consumerist orgy that is formed by their
\nunfettered presence.<\/p>\n
First, it is a pretense of modernity founded upon a
\nsurreptitious replacement of \"citizenship\" with \"consumership\".
\nIs it a vice or a virtue? Either way, what arises is this general
\nethos: If you don't pay for it, it can't be worth anything.<\/p>\n
Second, with the crowds of immediacy embodied in the culture
\nof mega-malls comes the celebration of the instant. Again, a
\nvirtue or a vice? Depends on the eye of the beholder. But if the
\nbeholder has been inculcated in the orgy of the instant, what
\nhappens is the reinforcement of the orgy itself -- who cares
\nabout the long-term impacts! Glitter needs no justification. What
\nemerges is a generation whose credo is proudly advertised by A
\nMild cigarette: \"I think, therefore I get more confused\". This is
\nthe making of a generation whose banality is interchangeable with
\ntheir vacuity.<\/p>\n
Third, in this culture of the instant, depth is by definition
\nlack of accessibility; hence the rise of a shortcut way of life
\nas wide as society in scope. With it comes an economy that mainly
\nstands on consumption rather than on the industrious craft of
\nproduction. The demise of the manufacturing industry that is now
\nbesieging the U.S. has something to do not only with the worship
\nof bubble finance, but also with the orgy of consumerism.<\/p>\n
Fourth, the way those unfettered mega-malls burgeons is also
\nthe poignant story of many disappeared public spaces, historical
\nsites and conservation areas.<\/p>\n
We may immediately think of the floods that chronically hit
\nJakarta, but in reality, the stakes at risk are higher than those
\nthat come with the floods.<\/p>\n
We repeatedly lament over the demise of public civility, but
\nforget that such demise is by no means unrelated to the
\ndisappearance of public spaces. We also lament over the decline
\nof our sense of history, but forget that this can only be secured
\nby the jealous guarding of historical sites.<\/p>\n
In the ever-flowing river of history, no one can remain in the
\npast. But Jakarta seems to have blotted out its past recklessly
\nwith more orgies of the immediate instant. Instead of giving a
\nsense of history, Jakarta's 476th fiesta may offer only a sense
\nof megalomania.<\/p>\n
Jakarta is an orphaned city reflecting itself in the mirror of
\nbogus modernity.<\/p>\n
The corrosion of our lives comes not simply from the orgy of
\nviolence, but also from the orgy of seduction.<\/p>",
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