Bounded to the north by the Java Sea
and the south by the low Bogor
Hills, Indonesia's overwhelming
capital,
JAKARTA , is one of
the fastest growing cities in the
world. From a mere 900,000
inhabitants in 1945, the current
population is well over ten million
and continues to grow at a rate of
200,000 every year. The capital
currently sprawls over 656 square
kilometres of northern Java.
Unfortunately, few foreign visitors
find the city as alluring as the
local population, and down the years
Jakarta has been much derided. Yet
the suburb of
Kota in the
north, the former heart of the old
Dutch city, still retains a number
of beautiful historic buildings, as
does the neighbouring port of
Sunda
Kelapa . The capital also has
some of the country's finest
museums, including the
Maritime
Museum , the
Wayang Museum
and the
National Museum.
The site of modern-day Jakarta
first entered the history books in
the twelfth century, when the
Pajajarans, a Sundanese kingdom
based in West Java, established a
major trading port at Sunda Kelapa
and held on to it for over 300
years. In the early sixteenth
century, the Islamic Sultanate of
Banten, 50km to the west, invaded
the city and renamed it Jayakarta
, "City of Victory"; the
date of their invasion, June 22,
1527, is still celebrated as the
city's birthday today. By 1619 the
Dutch had won control of the city
and the newly named Batavia
became the administrative centre of
their vast trading empire; it was
also given a facelift, with a new
network of canals and a host of
imposing civic buildings. When the
Japanese invaded Batavia on March 5,
1942, the city was once again
retitled Jayakarta, or Jakarta
for short. Dutch power declined, and
many of their buildings were pulled
down. In 1949, Sukarno entered
Jakarta, amid scenes of wild
jubilation, to become the first
president of the Republic of
Indonesia. In the following two
decades, ugly, Soviet-style
monuments sprouted like warts on the
face of the city and huge
shantytowns emerged on the fringes
to house economic migrants from
across the archipelago, a population
shift that continues to this day.
Since then, Jakarta has continued to
be the focus of Indonesia's changing
political face, most recently and
dramatically with the demonstrations
against Suharto in May 1998, during
which time the city was looted and
set alight by angry mobs. The city
is less tense at the moment, though
the armed forces still maintain a
large presence on the streets.
The City
To head from north to south through
the centre of Jakarta is to go
forward in time, from the pretty,
old Dutch city of Batavia, Kota , in
the north, to the modern golf
courses and amusement parks in the
south. Medan Merdeka , the...
read
more >>
