{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1815866,
        "msgid": "jakarta-towards-500-years-1782100296",
        "date": "2026-06-22 10:10:32",
        "title": "Jakarta Towards 500 Years",
        "author": "Karta Raharja Ucu",
        "source": "REPUBLIKA",
        "tags": "",
        "topic": "Anthropology",
        "summary": "As Jakarta approaches its 500th anniversary, historical accounts recall its once-celebrated international character and the renowned friendliness of its residents. Contemporary reality, however, starkly contrasts with these past observations, as the city now grapples with high crime rates and pervasive street criminality.",
        "content": "<p>\u201cJakarta is a charming city,\u201d wrote Adolf Heyken SJ, a German\nhistorian, in his book Historical Sites in Jakarta. As a port city,\nJakarta has had an international character since it was still called\nSunda Kelapa. People from different cultural backgrounds, skin colours,\nand religious beliefs have met in this port for centuries. Various\nlanguages could be heard at the harbour, in offices, in churches,\nmosques, and temples. They all mingled amiably without prejudice.\nMeanwhile, Willard A. Hanna, an American citizen who served on the staff\nof the USIS (United States Information Service) in the 1950s, wrote in\nHikayat Jakarta, \u201cJakarta is not actually included in the list of the\nworld\u2019s great capital cities that are most interesting and alluring to\nforeign tourists. However, if an index of cities were created in such a\nway that it showed a city where visitors could gain a satisfying and\nastonishing glimpse of knowledge about the human condition and its\nenvironment, Jakarta would certainly be in one of the top and most\nhonourable places. The easiest thing to achieve is when one casually\nencounters the famously friendly personality of a Jakartan. This is\nreflected in the brilliant white teeth of Jakarta\u2019s street children,\nwhich seem undefeated by the poverty they suffer.\u201d The friendliness of\nJakarta\u2019s residents also received praise from Louis Fischer, a prominent\nAmerican journalist and writer, when he visited for a month in the late\n1950s. In A Story of Indonesia, he wrote, \u201cI saw more Indonesians\nshowing their teeth in a smile during one month than in a year in Europe\nand the United States.\u201d Unfortunately, what these three foreign authors\nstated in their books is now the complete opposite. Unlike the 1950s and\n60s, Jakarta, which is now 499 years old, is among the cities in the\nworld with a fairly high crime rate. Robbery, murder, bag snatching, and\nvarious other crimes have become daily news in the mass media. Thuggery\nroams everywhere. Even though many perpetrators of these crimes have\nbeen beaten, shot dead, and subjected to mob justice, the number of\ncrimes has never decreased. In fact, it keeps increasing.<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jakarta-towards-500-years-1782100296",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}