Jakarta is falling in love

Jakarta, from governor to governor, is like a person growing more mature. Jakarta might be falling in love. Not with new buildings, nor with higher flyovers or more complicated interchanges. This time, it seems to be learning to love something that was almost non-existent for decades: people on foot. Perhaps it sounds excessive. How could a city as big as Jakarta have time to fall in love? It is too busy, too noisy, too often chased by time. Even a red light feels like only a short pause before everything roars back to life. But Sunday mornings have their own way of refuting all that. On Jalan HR Rasuna Said, people have a new place to enjoy one of the city’s cores without the sound of engines and horns that are usually never silent. Running, cycling, rollerblading, or simply walking with family, with a father pushing a pram—something that might never happen in the same spot on a Monday morning. It is as if the wide road was created for them from the very beginning. Perhaps this is what a city looks like when it stops for a moment. The Car Free Day on Rasuna Said was recently established. DKI Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung inaugurated it to coincide with Jakarta’s nearly five-century anniversary, its 499th birthday. This new branch of the CFD on a Jakarta protocol road has a simple yet logical reason for being held: the Sudirman-Thamrin CFD area had become too crowded every weekend. Jakarta is indeed being generous by adding more open spaces for its citizens. Interestingly, Rasuna Said is not just a new location. The area seems to hold a small irony. For years, anyone familiar with the layout of buildings and road sections there was very acquainted with the large pillars of the monorail that was never built. Concrete pillars with sturdy steel reinforcement emerged from the ground, towering, rusting, decaying, and sometimes plastered with advertising panels, spoiling the view. Now, those pillars have been removed. The road once separated by them is now unified, wide, and more pleasing to the eye. The pavements are wider, complete with refurbished bus stops and a major renovation of the TransJakarta shelter integrated with the Jabodebek monorail stop. Jakarta, from governor to governor, is like a person growing more mature, forgetting the disorder of youth, becoming wiser and bringing comfort to everyone.