The A to Z to quirky Jakarta
Endy M. Bayuni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta Inside Out; By Daniel Ziv; Equinox Publishing; Jakarta and Singapore, 2002; 184 pp
One of the things about Jakarta that I still can't figure out is the logic of motorists driving through a traffic circle. The convention seems to be that motorists entering the circle take priority over those already in it. It's a sure recipe for chaos.
During the morning rush hour, traffic around the circles, and on all roads leading to them, is bound to come to a complete standstill. If you drive along the main road in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, in the morning, you know exactly what I mean.
But then Jakarta is full of such idiosyncrasies. It's a city that many people -- and I am not only talking about tourists, but also long-time residents such as myself -- find baffling, if not mind-boggling.
Those who find the situation in Jakarta impossibly frustrating give up and leave town. But for some 10 million people, as chaotic as it may seem, Jakarta is the place they like to call home, whether by conscious decision or not.
Jakarta is not exactly an easy place to live, but millions of people have settled in here to live and to work, to build a career and to start a family. Some struggle just to make ends meet. Whether they like it or not, they have to live with many of the quirky aspects of the city.
Everyone has a story to tell about how they cope with the problems and challenges, but has anyone ever tried to make some sense out of the chaos that this city has now become?
Daniel Ziv has.
And he has done it eloquently as well as wittily, and with plenty of humor in Jakarta Inside Out. The book is the author's collection of short articles describing and explaining, or at least trying to explain, some of the quirky aspects that make this vibrant capital tick, even when it seems to many people to be on the verge of breaking down.
There are 65 articles on a wide range of topics: stories about the gay community, waria (transsexuals) and typical bule (Western Caucasian people); about people in odd professions like asongan (street vendors), U-turn police and umbrella boys; about notable and less-than-notable landmarks, from Blok M and Glodok, to Jl. Jaksa and Puncak; about food and drinks like durian, es (ice), gorengan (fried snack), jamu (herbal medicine) and Krating Daeng energy beverage; about urban problems like macet (traffic), floods and slums.
The book talks about the old and recently acquired pastimes of Jakartans, like the craze for karaoke, the mall culture, golf, pigeon racing, salon/cream bath; and about distinctive modes of public transportation, from becak (pedicab), bajaj (motorized pedicab) and ojek (motorcycle taxi), to the Metromini buses. It also has sections depicting the darker sides of the city, like violent street justice and sweatshops.
As the author says in the introduction, Inside Out "is a snapshot of a 21st century Southeast Asian city bursting at the seams, but plugging along nonetheless; of ordinary people in their urban landscape; of culture and pop culture".
Going by the depth of the articles, and the clever way they are written, Ziv has done his homework. Having lived in Jakarta since 1998, and having spent a good many of those four years setting up and then editing djakarta! magazine, he has the right qualifications to write such an authoritative book.
He did the necessary legwork, or as he describes his research method, by "hopping buses with street musicians, checking out bad-ass nightclubs, winding through town on motorbike taxis, and pounding the pavement in China town".
Such ground-level research paid off handsomely because he has come up with crucial little details that many long-time residents are not even aware of. The section on Pigeon Racing (Page 110) was revealing to me personally. Having little interest in this pastime, only now I learn that the ultimate winner of the race is the horniest male pigeon, because the prize for the champion is the right to mate with the female pigeon.
Each article is accompanied by a carefully selected photos, which in many instances paints more than a thousand words.
The section on Demo (Page 32) carries a series of photos of three street demonstrations, taken on different occasions, at different times and for different causes. Each has the same man taking part in the protests. That is sufficient to tell us about a new profession that has come about from the 1998 reform movement: professional demonstrators for hire. No caption is needed.
The book also runs eight funny caricatures depicting typical Jakartans -- a neighborhood local, a political activist, a coffee house tart, a mall babe, a society lady, a neighborhood thug, a bar bule, and a lady-boy busker -- by Benny and Mice.
It ends with 10 alternative things to do in Jakarta, and five wild and crazy ideas for Jakarta's governor, although Governor Sutiyoso would be crazy not to take up on Ziv's suggestions.
The book is not meant to be an all encompassing story of Jakarta and its inhabitants. That would require volumes of books. But more than just a personal account of the author's encounters with the idiosyncratic, it is a book that provides a glimpse of the bustling city and the contemporary culture of many of its people.
While Inside Out is no guide book, it guides you to understand Jakarta a little better. That understanding, for some people, could be the difference in deciding whether to stay or leave town.
Understanding some of the crazy little things we find in Jakarta could make living here a little bit more bearable. A light and entertaining book, it makes compelling reading for visitors and residents alike.