Divided Jakarta shares woes with all
Divided Jakarta shares woes with all
Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Debby Sahertian is living the good life. The entertainer has a
home in Puri Cinere, an upmarket residential area in South
Jakarta that boasts all the conveniences that money can buy.
It's a world away from the packed, clamorous kampongs hugging
riverbanks in other parts of the city. Populated by those left
behind in the capital's rush to development, the slums lack the
most basic necessities.
While the Dutch colonial government kept Batavia's citizens
divided along ethnic lines, evident in such place names as
Kampung Bali in Central Jakarta and Kampung Melayu in East
Jakarta, it's economic determinants that build walls between us
in Jakarta today.
An ample bank account allows some residents to take refuge
from the city's problems in well-tended real estate complexes,
far from the madding crowd in the slums.
But it's a tenuous escape, and the security codes and high
fences cannot shield them from the very real problems --
environmental pollution, shoddy infrastructure, spiraling crime
-- that impinge on the quality of life.
In Jakarta, inevitably the twains do meet.
"I still have problems," Debbie admitted about her home. "The
streets are always congested at certain hours, we just can't
avoid it."
When the worst flooding in years hit the city in February-
March 2002, it not only disrupted the lives of residents in low-
income neighborhoods such as Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta, but
also hit elite areas like Menteng in Central Jakarta, and Pulomas
in East Jakarta.
As Jakarta celebrates the 476th anniversary of its founding on
Sunday, the myriad problems do not appear to be diminishing or
leveling off, but rather increasing.
For Sindy, a 36-year-old secretary, crime is the biggest worry
in the city today.
Yet she realizes that it's a deep-seated problem.
"We need to open up more job opportunities. For instance, they
show all these raids against prostitutes on the streets, but what
good does it do if there are no jobs for them to go to? And the
next day they have no choice but to go back to selling
themselves."
Who is to blame?
Most point to the city administration, out of touch with the
needs of the people. They accuse the administration of devising
stop-gap measures at best, seemingly incapable of coming up with
a cohesive, structured plan to deal with the city's problem
Activist, legal expert and legislator Nursyahbani
Katjasungkana faulted those in the city administration, saying
"they don't have the sensibility to respond to what the people
say and they don't have a clear vision. They still hold on to the
old paradigm".
She added: "They are still stuck in the old paradigm -- top-
down projects and not projects or programs based on the real
problems or realities of the people."
The perennial problems never end, she noted, saying that there
was no discernible change in the policies of Jakarta governors
over the years.
Once the cleaning up is done after floods or the electricity
blackout is corrected until the next one, Jakarta residents go
back to their lives in the divided city.
And so the capital lives up to the theory that history repeats
itself. Divisions and the uprooting of people have always been
common, said Betawi (native Jakarta) cultural expert Ridwan
Saidi.
Conquering Central Java prince Fatahillah expelled people from
their kampongs in the 16th century to build forts. The Dutch
continued the practice, planning and building an elite
residential area in the center of the city.
"The place is what we now know as Menteng. I think that's the
first real estate (complex) ever founded here. Not all Dutch
people could live there, only a limited group, the affluent and
superrich."
The last official mass eviction was in 1977 under then
governor Cokropranolo, who intended to break up the Muslim
enclaves in Kalibaru, North Jakarta, following the loss of then
ruling political grouping Golkar in the general election.
Yet there have been other ways of displacing people, from
subtle measures, such as converting areas to new purposes in the
name of development, to more aggressive tactics of intimidation.
The history of the Betawi people is particularly telling. Very
few remain in the inner city, their land gobbled up for the
construction of offices, malls and hotels and their culture given
short shrift.
"I have to acknowledge that we now see how poor people and the
menial class, both Betawi and migrants, have had to move aside,
living along the rivers, on the city outskirts or in packed
neighborhoods in the downtown areas," Ridwan said.
But they go on with their lives until the next crisis brings
them together with their fellow residents. In a sense, it is the
capital's continuing woes that give us a shared identity as
residents of Jakarta.
Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Debby Sahertian is living the good life. The entertainer has a
home in Puri Cinere, an upmarket residential area in South
Jakarta that boasts all the conveniences that money can buy.
It's a world away from the packed, clamorous kampongs hugging
riverbanks in other parts of the city. Populated by those left
behind in the capital's rush to development, the slums lack the
most basic necessities.
While the Dutch colonial government kept Batavia's citizens
divided along ethnic lines, evident in such place names as
Kampung Bali in Central Jakarta and Kampung Melayu in East
Jakarta, it's economic determinants that build walls between us
in Jakarta today.
An ample bank account allows some residents to take refuge
from the city's problems in well-tended real estate complexes,
far from the madding crowd in the slums.
But it's a tenuous escape, and the security codes and high
fences cannot shield them from the very real problems --
environmental pollution, shoddy infrastructure, spiraling crime
-- that impinge on the quality of life.
In Jakarta, inevitably the twains do meet.
"I still have problems," Debbie admitted about her home. "The
streets are always congested at certain hours, we just can't
avoid it."
When the worst flooding in years hit the city in February-
March 2002, it not only disrupted the lives of residents in low-
income neighborhoods such as Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta, but
also hit elite areas like Menteng in Central Jakarta, and Pulomas
in East Jakarta.
As Jakarta celebrates the 476th anniversary of its founding on
Sunday, the myriad problems do not appear to be diminishing or
leveling off, but rather increasing.
For Sindy, a 36-year-old secretary, crime is the biggest worry
in the city today.
Yet she realizes that it's a deep-seated problem.
"We need to open up more job opportunities. For instance, they
show all these raids against prostitutes on the streets, but what
good does it do if there are no jobs for them to go to? And the
next day they have no choice but to go back to selling
themselves."
Who is to blame?
Most point to the city administration, out of touch with the
needs of the people. They accuse the administration of devising
stop-gap measures at best, seemingly incapable of coming up with
a cohesive, structured plan to deal with the city's problem
Activist, legal expert and legislator Nursyahbani
Katjasungkana faulted those in the city administration, saying
"they don't have the sensibility to respond to what the people
say and they don't have a clear vision. They still hold on to the
old paradigm".
She added: "They are still stuck in the old paradigm -- top-
down projects and not projects or programs based on the real
problems or realities of the people."
The perennial problems never end, she noted, saying that there
was no discernible change in the policies of Jakarta governors
over the years.
Once the cleaning up is done after floods or the electricity
blackout is corrected until the next one, Jakarta residents go
back to their lives in the divided city.
And so the capital lives up to the theory that history repeats
itself. Divisions and the uprooting of people have always been
common, said Betawi (native Jakarta) cultural expert Ridwan
Saidi.
Conquering Central Java prince Fatahillah expelled people from
their kampongs in the 16th century to build forts. The Dutch
continued the practice, planning and building an elite
residential area in the center of the city.
"The place is what we now know as Menteng. I think that's the
first real estate (complex) ever founded here. Not all Dutch
people could live there, only a limited group, the affluent and
superrich."
The last official mass eviction was in 1977 under then
governor Cokropranolo, who intended to break up the Muslim
enclaves in Kalibaru, North Jakarta, following the loss of then
ruling political grouping Golkar in the general election.
Yet there have been other ways of displacing people, from
subtle measures, such as converting areas to new purposes in the
name of development, to more aggressive tactics of intimidation.
The history of the Betawi people is particularly telling. Very
few remain in the inner city, their land gobbled up for the
construction of offices, malls and hotels and their culture given
short shrift.
"I have to acknowledge that we now see how poor people and the
menial class, both Betawi and migrants, have had to move aside,
living along the rivers, on the city outskirts or in packed
neighborhoods in the downtown areas," Ridwan said.
But they go on with their lives until the next crisis brings
them together with their fellow residents. In a sense, it is the
capital's continuing woes that give us a shared identity as
residents of Jakarta.