Addresses in Jakarta

Monica Hols' frustrating experience in finding an address in Jakarta (On the Move in Jakarta, The Jakarta Post, July 24, 1995) originated rather from the arbitrary numbering of the houses on Jalan Bangka II and not from the services of the public transport sector.

However, we have to hand it to her fellow countrymen of years past, the Dutch, who introduced and applied systematic numbering of buildings and houses: odd numbers on the left, even numbers on the right side of a street. Exception was made for streets along waterways: Jalan Gadjah Mada, Jalan Hayam Wuruk, where the numbers were (are) consecutive. Therefore, the older parts of Jakarta, now mainly Jakarta Pusat, and also Kebayoran Baru, present no problems for the address seeker. But Greater Jakarta, with mainly ribbon developments on main streets (Jalan Daan Mogot to the west, Jalan Fatmawati to the south and Jalan Pramuka/Pemuda to the east), is a nightmare to locate numbers, except perhaps within housing complexes.

The "golden tip" for Ms. Hols is: If you want to go to an address, of which the locality is unknown to you, in Greater Jakarta you must first of all inquire by telephone or letter (if you come from outside Jakarta) where the address is exactly located with reference to other houses; buildings or landmarks. (There is no "golden tip" for coming to grips with Jakarta's public transport.)

Do not forget that the buildings in the Central Business District (Jalan Thamrin, Sudirman, Gatot Subroto, Rasuna Said) have no numbers. They only have what is called kaveling numbers referring, possibly, to the registration number of the plot of land. These numbers are not indicative of the relative location of the buildings.

If the high-rise building moguls cannot affix numbers to their buildings, should one expect public transport vehicle drivers, the perpetrators of Miss Hols' frustration, to know where a house, with perhaps a puzzling address in South Jakarta, is exactly located?

S. HARMONO

Jakarta