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:''This page is about the capital city of Indonesia. For The Apache Jakarta project, see Jakarta Project''.
'Jakarta' (also 'DKI Jakarta'), formerly known as 'Djakarta', 'Sunda Kelapa', 'Jayakarta' and 'Batavia' is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Located on the northwest coast of the island of Java, it has an area of 661.52 km² and a population of 8,792,000 (2004).Region and Population - Jakartaku Jakarta was founded almost 500 years ago and currently is the eleventh largest city and metropolitan area and ninth most densely populated city in the world with 44,283 people per sq mile.^[2] Its metropolitan area is called Jabotabek and contains more than 23 million people, and is part of an even larger Jakarta-Bandung megalopolis.
Jakarta is served by the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Since 2004, Jakarta, under the governance of Sutiyoso, has built a new transportation system, which is known as "TransJakarta" or "Busway" and in 2007, Jakarta will establish its newest transportation system, the Jakarta Monorail. Jakarta also is the location of the Jakarta Stock Exchange and the National Monument.

Contents

History

Administration

Culture

Transportation

Education

Sports

Media

Newspapers

Television

Radio

Problems

Sister relationships

References

See also

External links

History

The earliest recorded mention of Jakarta is as a port of origin that can be traced to a Hindu settlement as early as the 4th century. By the 14th century, it was a major port for the Hindu kingdom of Sunda. The first European fleet, four Portuguese ships from Malacca, arrived in 1513 . Batzaush had been conquered by Alfonso d'Albuquerque in 1511 when the Portuguese were looking for spices and especially pepper.
The relationship between the Kingdom of Sunda and Portugal intensified when another Portuguese named Enrique Leme visited Sunda in 1522 with the intention of giving a present. He was well-received and as a result, the Portuguese gained rights to build a warehouse and expand their fort in Sunda Kelapa (the name of the location at the time). The Sundanese regarded this as a consolidation of their position against the raging Muslim troops from the rising power of the Sultanate of Demak in Central Java.History of Jakarta
In 1527, Muslim troops coming from Cirebon and Demak attacked the Kingdom of Sunda under the leadership of Fatahillah. The king was expecting the Portuguese to come and help them hold Fatahillah's army because of an agreement that had been in place between Sunda and the Portuguese. However, Fatahillah's army succeeded in conquering the city on June 22, 1557, and Fatahillah changed the name of "Sunda Kelapa" to "Jayakarta" ("Great Deed" or "Complete Victory").History of Jakarta

The followers of the Sultan of Banten (the location of Jayakarta), Prince Jayawikarta, was also very involved in the history of Jakarta. In 1596, many Dutch ships arrived in Jayakarta with the intention of trading spices, more or less the same as that of the Portuguese. In 1602, the British East India Company's first voyage, commanded by Sir James Lancaster, arrived in Aceh and sailed on to Bantam where he was allowed to build trading post which becomes the centre of British trade in Indonesia until 1682.^[3] In this case, the Prince took the Dutch arrival seriously as the Dutch had constructed many military buildings. Prince Jayawikarta apparently also had a connection with the English and allowed them to build houses directly across from the Dutch buildings in 1615 . When relations between Prince Jayawikarta and the Dutch later deteriorated, his soldiers attacked the Dutch fortress which covered two main buildings, Nassau and Mauritus. But even with the help of 15 ships from the English, Prince Jayakarta's army wasn't able to defeat the Dutch, for Jan Pieterszoon Coen (J.P. Coen) came to Jayakarta just in time, drove away the English ships and burned the English trading post.

Things then changed for the Prince, when the Sultan of Banten sent his soldiers and summoned Prince Jayawikarta to establish a close relationship with the English without an approval of the Banten authorities. The relationships between both Prince Jayawikarta and the English with the Banten government then became worse and resulted in the Prince's decision to move to Tanara, a small place in Banten, until his death. This assisted the Dutch in their efforts to establish a closer relationship with Banten. The Dutch had by then changed the name to "Batavia", which remained until 1942.History of Jakarta
Within Batavia's walls, wealthy Dutch built tall houses and pestilential canals. Commercial opportunities attracted Indonesian and especially Chinese immigrants, the increasing numbers creating burdens on the city. Tensions grew as the colonial government tried to restrict Chinese migration through deportations. On 9 October 1740, 5,000 Chinese were massacred and the following year, Chinese inhabitants were moved to Glodok outside the city walls.^[4] The city began to move further south as epidemics in 1835 and 1870 encouraged more people to move far south of the port. The Koningsplein, now Merdeka Square, was completed in 1818, and Kebayoran Baru was the last Dutch-built residential area.
The city was renamed "Jakarta" by the Japanese during their World War II occupation of Indonesia. Following World War II, Indonesian Republicans withdrew from allied-occupied Jakarta during their fight for Indonesian independence and established their capital in Yogyakarta. In 1950, once independence was secured, Jakarta was once again made the national capital. Indonesia's founding president, Sukarno, envisaged Jakarta as a great international city instigating large, government-funded projects undertaken with openly nationalistic architecture that strived to show the newly independent nation's pride in itself.^[5] Projects included a clover-leaf highway, a broad by-pass in Jakarta (Jalan Sudirman), four high-rise hotels including the famous Hotel Indonesia, a new parliament building, the 127 000-seat Bung Karno Stadium, and monuments including The National Monument.
Following Sukarno's downfall and the Transition to the New Order, Jakarta Governor, Lieutenant General Ali Sadikin, administered the city from 1966 to 1977. He is credited with rehabilitating public services, and also cleared out slum dwellers, banned rickshaws, and street pedlars. Finance sector reforms of the late-1980s saw Jakarta become the focus of real estate boom, which ended abruptly, however, in the 1997 East Asian Economic crisis. The city became the centre of violence, protest, and political manoeuvring as long-time president Suharto began to lose his grip on power. Tensions reached a peak in May 1998 when four students were shot dead at Trisakti University by security forces; four days of riots ensued resulting in an estimated 6,000 buildings damaged or destroyed, and the loss of 1,200 lives. The Chinese of the Glodok district were hardest hit and stories of rape and murder later emerged. Jakarta has since been the centre of popular protest and national political instability, including several terms of ineffective Presidents, and a number Jemaah Islamiah-connected bombings.

Administration

Officially, Jakarta is not a city but a province with special status as the capital of Indonesia. It is administered much as any other Indonesian province. For example, Jakarta has a governor (instead of a mayor), and is divided into several sub-regions with their own administrative systems. Jakarta, as a province, is divided into five cities (''kota'') (formerly municipality) each headed by a mayor and one regency (''kabupaten'') headed by a regent. In August 2007, Jakarta held its first ever election to pick a governor, which was won by Fauzi Bowo. The city's governors have previously been appointed by local parliament. The poll is part of a country-wide decentralisation drive allowing for direct local elections in several areas.^[6]
List of cities of Jakarta:

★ Central Jakarta (''Jakarta Pusat'')

★ East Jakarta (''Jakarta Timur'')

★ North Jakarta (''Jakarta Utara'')

★ South Jakarta (''Jakarta Selatan'')

★ West Jakarta (''Jakarta Barat'')
The only regency of Jakarta is:

★ Thousand Islands (''Kepulauan Seribu''), formerly a subdistrict of North Jakarta.

Culture

National Museum of Indonesia

As the economic and political capital of Indonesia, Jakarta attracts many foreign as well as domestic immigrants. As a result, Jakarta has a decidedly cosmopolitan flavor and a diverse culture. Many of the immigrants are from the other parts of Java, bringing along a mixture of dialects of the Javanese and Sundanese languages, as well as their traditional foods and customs. The Betawi (''Orang Betawi'', or "people of Batavia") is a term used to describe the descendants of the people living around Batavia from around the 18th century. The Betawi people are mostly descended from various Southeast Asian ethnic groups brought or attracted to Batavia to meet labour needs, and include people from various parts of Indonesia. The language and culture of these immigrants are distinct from those of the Sundanese or Javanese.
There has also been a Chinese community in Jakarta for centuries. Officially they make up 6% of the Jakarta population, though this number may be under reported."Chinese diaspora: Indonesia" - BBC

One of the many Sukarno era statues in the city

Jakarta has several performance centers, such as the Senayan center. Traditional music is often found at high-class hotels, including wayang and gamelan performances. As the largest Indonesian city, Jakarta has lured much regional talent to relocate in hope of finding a greater audience and more opportunities for success.
The concentration of wealth and political influence in the city means that it has much more noticeable foreign influence on its landscape and culture, an effect illustrated by the presence in the city of many major international fast-food chains, for example.

Transportation

Central Jakarta main road.

There are railways throughout Jakarta; however, they are judged as being inadequate for providing necessary transportation for the citizens of Jakarta. In peak hours, the number of passengers greatly exceeds capacity. The railroad tracks connect Jakarta to its neighboring regions: Depok and Bogor to the south, Tangerang and Serpong to the west, and Bekasi, Karawang, and Cikampek to the east. The major rail stations are Gambir, Jatinegara, Pasar Senen, Manggarai, Tanah Abang and Jakarta Kota.
The 'TransJakarta' service operates on a special bus-line called busway. The busway network is optimized for busy city routes and is a relatively effective alternative for travel in Jakarta. Construction of the 2nd and 3rd corridor routes of the busway was completed in 2006, serving the route from Pulogadung to Kalideres. The busway serving the route from Blok M to Jakarta Kota has been operational since January 2004.

Jakarta traffic

Despite the presence of many wide roads, Jakarta suffers from congestion due to heavy traffic, especially in the central business district. To reduce traffic jams, some major roads in Jakarta have a 'three in one' rule during rush hours, first introduced in 1992, prohibiting less than three passengers per car on certain roads. In 2005, this rule covered the Gatot Subroto Road.

To reduce traffic congestion, a new TransJakarta bus system was introduced.

Jakarta's roads are notorious for indisciplined driver behavior; transportation laws are broken with impunity and police bribery is commonplace. The painted lines on the road are regarded as mere suggestions as vehicles often travel four or five abreast on a typical two-lane road and it is not uncommon to encounter a vehicle traveling the wrong direction in a given traffic flow. Furthermore, in recent years the number of motorcycles on the streets has been growing almost exponentially, ensuring many a problem due to ill-disciplined motorcyclists. The vast sea of small, 100-200cc motorcycles, many of which have 2-stroke motors, create much of the traffic, noise and air pollution that plague Jakarta.
An outer ring road is now being constructed and is partly operational from Cilincing-Cakung-Pasar Rebo-Pondok Pinang-Daan Mogot-Cengkareng. A toll road connects Jakarta to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in the north of Jakarta. Also connected via toll road is the port of Merak and Tangerang to the west and Bekasi, Cibitung and Karawang, Purwakarta and Bandung to the east.
Two lines of the Jakarta Monorail are under construction: the green line serving Semanggi-Casablanca Road-Kuningan-Semanggi and the blue line serving Kampung Melayu-Casablanca Road-Tanah Abang-Roxy. In addition, there are plans for a two-line subway (MRT) system, with a north-south line between Kota and Lebak Bulus, with connections to both monorail lines; and an east-west line, which will connect with the north-south line at the Sawah Besar station. The current project, which began in 2005, has been halted due to a lack of funds and its future remains uncertain.
On 6 June 2007, the city administration started to introduce the Waterway, anew river boat service along the Ciliwung river.Jakarta begins river boat service. The move aims to reduce the traffic snarls in Jakarta. The two boat service, each with a capacity of 28 passengers travels 1.7 kilometres along the West Flood Canal between Halimun in South Jakarta and Karet in Central Jakarta.Jakarta gets its first klong taxis.
There are currently two airports serving Jakarta; They are Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) and Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport (HLP).
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is used for both private and commercial airliners connecting Jakarta with other Indonesian cities. It is also Indonesia's main international gateway. The airport is divided into 3 separate terminals. Terminal 1 serves all domestic airliners except Garuda Indonesia. Terminal 2 serves all foreign carriers and Garuda Indonesia (both domestic and international routes). Terminal 3 serves solely for hajj pilgrimage flights. Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport serves mostly private and presidential flights.

Motorised ''bajaj''

Cycle rickshaws, called ''becak'', provide local transportation in the back streets of some parts of the city. From the early 1940s to 1991 they were a common form of local transportation in the city. In 1966, an estimated 160,000 rickshaws were operating in the city; as much as fifteen percent of Jakarta's total workforce was engaged in rickshaw driving. In 1971, rickshaws were banned from major roads, and shortly thereafter the government attempted a total ban, which substantially reduced their numbers but did not eliminate them. An especially aggressive campaign to eliminate them finally succeeded in 1990 and 1991, but during the economic crisis of 1998, some returned amid less effective government attempts to control them.^[7] The only place left in Jakarta where riding becak is permitted is the amusement park Taman Impian Jaya Ancol. The cycle rickshaw (becak) is now back in very low density numbers in Jakarta, but looks dramatically different than the old ones. Now they look almost like a cart with cycle in the back without the paintings and artwork of the old becaks.

Education

Museum Arsip (Archive Museum), one of the museums in Jakarta.

Jakarta is the home of many universities, the oldest of which are state University of Indonesia (UI) and the private-owned Universitas Nasional (UNAS)^[8], much of which has now relocated to Pasar Minggu. There are also many other private universities in Jakarta. As the largest city and the capital, Jakarta houses a large number of students from various parts of Indonesia, many of whom reside in dormitories or home-stay residences. Similarly to other large cities in developing Asian countries, there is a large number of professional schools teaching a wide range of subjects from Mandarin, English and computer skills to music and dance. For basic education, there are a variety of primary and secondary schools, tagged with public (''national''), private (''national and bi-lingual national plus'') and ''international'' schools.

Jakarta skyline taken from the top of Monas.

Sports

Since Soekarno's era, Jakarta has often been chosen as the venue for international sport events, such as being the host of Asian Games in 1962, and several times hosting the regional-scale Sea Games. Jakarta is also home of several professional soccer clubs. The most popular of them is Persija, which regularly plays its matches in the Lebak Bulus Stadium. The biggest stadium in Jakarta is the Bung Karno Stadium with a capacity of 100,000 seats^[9]. For basketball, the Kelapa Gading Sport Mall in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, with a capacity of 7,000 seats, is the home arena of the Indonesian national basketball team. Many international basketball matches are played in this stadium. The Senayan sports complex is comprised of several sport venues, which include the Bung Karno soccer stadium, Madya Stadium, Istora Senayan, a shooting range, a tennis court and a golf driving range. The Senayan complex was built in 1959 to accommodate the Asian Games in 1962.

Media

Newspapers

Jakarta has several daily newspaper such as ''Bisnis Indonesia'', ''The Jakarta Post'', ''Indo Pos'' , ''Seputar Indonesia'', ''Kompas'', ''Media Indonesia'', ''Republika'', ''Pos Kota'', ''Warta Kota'', and Suara Pembaruan.

Television

Government television: TVRI.
Private national television: TPI, RCTI, Metro TV, Indosiar, StarANTV, SCTV, Trans TV, Lativi, Trans 7, and Global TV.
Local television: Jak-TV, O-Channel, and Space-Toon.
Cable television: Indovision, ASTRO, TelkomVision, Kabelvision

Radio

Main articles: List of radio stations in Jakarta

Problems

A trash dump in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi

Like many big cities in developing countries, Jakarta suffers from major urbanization problems. The population has risen sharply from 1.2 million in 1960 to 8.8 million in 2004, counting only its legal residents. The population of greater Jakarta is estimated at 23 million, making it the fourth largest urban area in the world. The rapid population growth has outgrown the government's ability to provide basic needs for its residents. As the third biggest economy in Indonesia, Jakarta has attracted a large number of visitors. The population during weekends is almost double that of weekdays, due to the influx of residents residing in other areas of Jabotabek. Because of government's inability to provide adequate transportation for its large population, Jakarta also suffers from severe traffic jams that occur almost every day. Air pollution and garbage management is also a severe problem.
During the wet season, Jakarta suffers from flooding due to clogged sewage pipes and waterways. Deforestation due to rapid urbanization on the highland areas south of Jakarta near Bogor and Depok has also contributed to the floods. Among the worst flooding ever occurred in late 1996^[10][11] when 5,000 hectares flooded ^[12]. In the floods of 2 February 2007^[13], losses from infrastructure damage and state revenue were at least 5.2 trillion rupiah (572 million dollars) and at least 85 people were killed ^[14] and about 350,000 people forced from their homes. Disease fears as floods ravage Jakarta. Approximately 70% or 75% of Jakarta's total area was flooded and water up to 4 meters deep in parts of city.^{[15] [16] [17]}

Sister relationships

Jakarta has sister relationships with a number of towns and regions worldwide:

★ Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

★ Beijing, China

★ Berlin, Germany

★ Istanbul, Turkey

★ Los Angeles, United States

★ State of New South Wales, Australia

★ Paris, France

★ Rotterdam, the Netherlands

★ Seoul, South Korea

★ Tokyo, Japan

References

1. Indonesia's Population: Ethnicity and Religion in a Changing Political Landscape, , , , Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2003,
2. International Density Rank
3. A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition, , M.C., Ricklefs, MacMillan, , ISBN 0-333-57689-6
4. Indonesia, , Patrick, Witton, Lonely Planet, ,
5. Schoppert, P., Damais, S., ''Java Style'', 1997, Didier Millet, Paris, ISBN 962-593-232-1
6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6936276.stm
7. Azuma, Yoshifumi (2003). ''Urban peasants: beca drivers in Jakarta''. Jakarta: Pustaka Sinar Harapan.
8. http://www.unas.ac.id:1949/sejarah.do
9. http://www.fussballtempel.net/afc/IDN.html
10. http://www.asiaviews.org/?content=153499ym32dddw4&headline=20070215014241
11. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/VBOL-6YPCN6?OpenDocument
12. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~floods/Archives/1996sum.htm
13. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aEZkmZ6LCTrM
14. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/indonesiaweatherfloods;_ylt=Au4qmNPoAyVq_HQ.qLCeyB3aHXcA
15. http://hadip.wordpress.com/2007/02/10/jakarta-flood-feb-2007/
16. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~floods/Archives/2007sum.htm
17. http://photo.ruditheunis.com/component/option,com_zoom/Itemid,4/catid,22/

See also

★ Jakarta riots of May 1998

★ List of Governors of Jakarta

★ Jakarta Old Town

★ Lubang Buaya

★ List of metropolitan areas by population

External links

★ Official website

★

★ Travelling to Jakarta

★ Living in Jakarta for expatriates

★ About Jakarta