Reclaim Jakarta's nature<\/p>\n
Marco Kusumawijaya, Architect, Jakarta<\/p>\n
We should really push ahead with the reclamation of Jakarta's
\ncoastal area. I mean \"we\" the public, not the four big developers
\nthat will help the governor sue the environment minister for his
\ndecree that deemed the reclamation project environmentally
\nunsound.<\/p>\n
None of the developers is any model of good corporate
\ngovernance. Remember \"Ancol Gate\"? Remember floods? And I don't
\nmean reclamation in the sense of dumping soil from other
\nprovinces in the sea north of Jakarta to create 2700 hectares of
\nland stretching two kilometers further out to sea.<\/p>\n
We should reclaim the existing coast in the real social and
\ncultural sense. We've got to have a real public life there on the
\nbeach!<\/p>\n
After all, Jakarta has more than 30 kilometers of coastline,
\nbut none is publicly accessible for free enjoyable time. And how
\noften do we see the sea during our normal working days? Don't
\ntell me I am asking too much. Just go to Makassar, where in one
\nnormal working day the average citizen could very probably see
\nthe sea twice. He or she can read the morning newspaper at the
\nbeach before work, and after work have a sumptuous meal at the
\nsame spot while enjoying the sunset. No entry fee. Likewise in
\nManado and Baubau in North and Southeast Sulawesi respectively.<\/p>\n
There's no need to mention cities abroad that have been too
\noften visited by many officials on their \"study tours\" without
\neven considering those nearer to home and making use of the
\ncheaper cyber tour through the Internet.<\/p>\n
On its birthday, it is quite timely to think again of Jakarta
\nas a coastal city, because that is what it has always been for
\nmore than 800 years. Yes, it is older than 576 years, the
\nofficial reckoning, based on the year 1527 when the Islamic
\nprince Fatahillah took over the capital. Settlements already
\nexisted in the 12th century in the coastal areas of the present
\nSunda Kelapa area.<\/p>\n
Many other cities estimate their birthdays from the time they
\nwere first settled in the Hindu or Buddhist period. The age of
\nPalembang in southern Sumatra is officially estimated at 682,
\nwhile Surabaya is said to be have been born in 1250.<\/p>\n
Jakarta as we know it now really started only in stones when
\nJan P. Coen built the present Jakarta Kota in 1619. Coen's was
\nthe first intervention that really left a physical pattern that
\nstill lives until now and determines the future forms of Jakarta.
\nHe was Dutch, of course, and therefore not an acceptable figure
\nas a founding father of the city.<\/p>\n
So the developers are not totally wrong to think of a
\nbeautiful coastal line as the gateway of Jakarta. This dream was
\nconjured up by Sukarno already as early as the 1960's, albeit
\nwith a sense of reclamation closer to mine than to theirs.<\/p>\n
We need to feel the presence of nature, the cosmos, and
\nwilderness in this unassuming tropical metropolis. So we could
\nalso encourage more presence of animals. We could bring the
\nmonkeys from the mangrove swamp in Kapuk up to the National
\nMonument to play with the deer. (Do they get along well?). At
\nleast the monkeys, who have been living there for centuries, are
\nmore familiar to the heat of the city, unlike the distressed
\ndeer. They might even cheer the deer up!<\/p>\n
This will help save the monkeys, who are the real native
\nJakartans if any, from extinction, as the mangroves are being
\nslowly damaged or \"reclaimed\" by both the surrounding developers
\nand fishermen.<\/p>\n
As to the 13 streams that pass through Jakarta, we can clear
\nthe banks of the slums and plant trees that attract birds. The
\nstreams will lead our imagination to their sources, which are the
\nmountains up south. But we might not be able to bring the
\nmountains back to our sight in Jakarta, because the pollution is
\ntoo thick for our vision to pierce through, since the cars in
\nJakarta will still produce 70 percent to 80 percent of all
\npolluting gases for the next 10 years or so.<\/p>\n
That would be to my advantage because the pictures that I took
\non last Feb. 18 from the JSE Tower 2, will be the last ones ever
\nshowing the mountains in the south clearly. Even now, of all the
\npeople whom I have shown the pictures, no one believes they are
\nreal. They think they are computer generated collages.<\/p>\n
And the trees along the river banks might not have time to
\ngrow strong before they are flushed by the next flood, as the
\ninvisible mountains will soon be brown instead of green, sending
\nmore and more water as run-off downstream to Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Or worse, the river banks will be reoccupied by the urban poor
\nafter they return from Lebaran holiday, because there is no
\nsecurity of land tenure, nor a realistic social housing program.<\/p>\n
So won't greening the metropolis solve our problem? At least
\nyou can never hate more trees.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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