'Hard for us to make it in Jakarta'

'Hard for us to make it in Jakarta'

As Jakarta celebrates its 478th anniversary with monthlong
festivities, the administration seems unconcerned by reports of
malnutrition and marasmus in the capital and complaints that
public services are only available for those who can pay. The
Jakarta Post asked residents for their views on life in the
capital.

Emo, 32, is the head of a neighborhood unit in a low-cost
apartment building in Petamburan, Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.
He is married and has two children:

I am a native Jakartan. I was born and grew up here. I hope to
die here too, on the land of my ancestors.

I have seen how my family's land has been gradually lost to
development. When there was a big fire in our neighborhood in the
early 1990s, the city administration built these apartments for
us. Now all we have left are a couple of small rooms that we have
to pay for on installment.

Jakarta is a metropolis, I know, so I do not expect that there
is much space left in the heart of the city for affordable
housing for people like me.

Many of my relatives sold their apartments and moved to Depok
because they could not run the family business of selling noodles
from the apartments.

I wish all the best for Jakarta, which has kicked its sons and
daughters out of their homes.

Indra, 28, is a ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver. He lives in
Pejompongan, Central Jakarta:

I am proud to be a Jakartan, a resident of this famous city.

But living here also comes with a lot of problems.

When I visit my parents in their village in Central Java,
relatives and neighbors always ask me for money because they
think all Jakartans are rich. Some of them even want to follow me
back to Jakarta because they want to get jobs and make a lot of
money.

They do not know, or even care, how hard it is to make it in
Jakarta.

-- The Jakarta Post