. Nog extra toevallig is dat je haar op die plaats tegenkwam.Een jaar of vier geleden heb ik Adep en [...]
At the turn of the century my youngest son went South-East. After a number of years he returned and lived with his wife some time in Holland before leaving again. I wasn’t surprised really, because in previous years he had hinted several times he was fascinated by his mother’s native country. Nevertheless I asked myself at the time of their departure: Jakarta? Why? How many artists paid honour to her? Who ever sang to her glory? Has Jakarta inspired songwriters to dedicate a musical tribute to her? Like New York, London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris and other blessed cities have for instance? I don’t know but I doubt it.
But I do know a few grumpy critics gave her a bad review . The other day they ranked her as one of the cities you love to hate : sprawling city choked with traffic, pollution, poverty and tourist ‘draws’ largely revolving around random street adventures and an epidemic of malls. Which, I have to agree with Arie Budhiman of the Jakarta Tourism and Culture Agency, is not quite valid and fair . Yet not total nonsense either. I for one feel ill at ease in the ‘plastic’ horror of rampant malls and at the sight of a skyline consisting of arrogant cathedrals of capitalism.
Nor is it the place where you go to economize. The cost of living in a metropolis depends on what you can afford and what choices you make. But if you bring your European standards as contraband with you when settling in the Big Durian you will find life is about as expensive in the tropical capital as it is elsewhere. Comparable to any major capital in the world. Here I learned that you may need something between € 2500 – € 5000 a month to rent a three room apartment. Moreover it’s tough to manage without a car because the city is huge and public transport poor. Fortunately you can buy a modest vehicle for the family at a reasonable € 12000 or € 13000. And food is even better. Cheap, manifold, tasty and diverse.
Maybe that’s done the trick: food is a major issue in my son’s life actually. On top of that his wife apparently loves the city also. Perhaps because she got rooted while she was studying at Universitas Indonesia. And the two of them by the way managed to outsmart the realities of the above mentioned costs of living. So they got themselves tied to Jakarta in spite of details like pollution, malls and other crimes to humanity.
Yet their special luck doesn’t explain why millions of Indonesians and tens of thousands of foreigners are drawn to this hot and steamy melting pot.
I guess there are many reasons. One of them being the fact the metropolis is one of the main centres of the present revolutionary process of transforming and building the world’s imminent Asian future. A magnet of hidden opportunities. A promise of relaxing social control, anonymity and freedom. A laboratory of new ways and forms of art, culture and lifestyle. A breeding ground for liberal thought. And radicalism. Where everything is possible and you can live your dream. Or fail. But failure is abundant so there is no loosing face. Also, scattered over the huge area the city covers , there are oasis and moments of calm and beauty. Yes the city even has her poetic side.In that vein Mousharilla wrote there are times of the day that sometimes make one think Jakarta, hey.. you’re all kinds of awesome darling. Lazy and reluctant like the embrace of a lover too soon separated. Sweet and slow, trails of yellows and blue seeping through a dull grey sky. Buildings standing tall, like zombies unsure of what to do. And just when you think the quiet is too much, the silence is broken by the occasional motorcycle or the shout of a street vendor offering hot, steamy, delicious rice congee.
If I had Mousharilla’s talent I would have written similar lines after staying a month in Indonesia’s capital last year. The climate almost suffocated me, but the city charmed me. I got hooked even – and for a moment I thought I understood my son’s choice.
Jakarta may be a city you hate to love – but she is irresistible.
I used to like and enjoy Jakarta. I was single then. Plenty of “tail” to chase, if you forgive me the brusque comment. Good nightlife and if you are working and making money, it can be a decent place. Nevertheless it has gotten worse and worse over the years. In fact, it used to be a lot more (relatively) liveable just a couple of years ago. Friends now tell me their commute has increased relative to their already long commute before.
My wife was born and raised there. Then she left in the 1990s and when she came back the place had definitely gone to hell. We now receive a steady stream of her friends and acquaintances who are on holiday here in Bali. Almost all wish they could escape to live elsewhere, preferably Bali, were it not for the fact that their job is in Jakarta. I have an apartment in Jakarta for rent, but I just want to divest myself of Jakarta and sell it. I am betting that Bali land will rise quicker in price that apartments in Jakarta. Quality of life, of course, will always be higher in the Island of the Gods. Good “tail” and nightlife in Jakarta, though.
Oh yeah, you should check out the devastation and loss of land resulting from global warming that awaits Jakarta in the next few decades. You think it’s bad now? Just you wait!
It’s no secret Bali stands out as attractive destination. Although in my experience the island in spite of an army of willing girls, is not much of a paradise any more South of Ubud.
As for Jakarta this is the quintessence in my opinion: “their job is in Jakarta”. Indonesia’s centre of gravity is in the capital- in political, administrative, economic, financial,economical and cultural sense.
Yet I’m afraid I have to agree with your writing on Jakarta’s ecological wall: “Mene, Mene, Tekel u-Pharsin.
Many foreigners, due to their privilege and spending power, live largely oblivious and isolated from the grim reality, the drudgery of life and squalor that faces the majority in Jakarta. For many of them, for instance, they have to commute for a good four hours a day to go earn a pittance with little prospect of advancement. I had a colleague who used to leave his house while his children were still asleep and get home from work when they were already sleeping. An Indonesian saying goes like this: As cruel as a step-mother can be, the capital city is crueler still (Sekejam-kejamnya ibu tiri, masih lebih kejam ibu kota).
aside from the constant acute traffic jam and pollution, jakarta is a very nice city to live. working in companies located in jl. jend. sudirman is also a prestige. it could be better , however, if only the government fix up the bus transjakarta.
it’s one of the best public transportation the city could provide, but they dont maintain it anymore, most of the stations dont even have toilet, maybe they are encouraging the employees to pee on the road/behind a bush. the condition, OMG… I now wear an antibacterial mask to avoid the germs and dust in the buses.
now, if jokowi could become the next governor, there is ray of hope that the public transportation will be getting better and the city will be less messy.
You’re right. Talk about strangling the goose that lays the golden eggs; Bali south of Ubud is fast becoming Jakarta writ-small. That’s why I live in Ubud, and we are seeking to score a nice plot of land on the northern side of it.
Just this morning, my wife and I were talking about land prices in the south Jakarta neighboorhood where she grew up. This was an area that when she was still a girl had trees and a forest. This is an area that was once covered in mist and fog in the mornings, and in the 1970s had no electricity, municipal water or pavement. Today it is called Cipete, a veritable concrete jungle, where a 100m2 piece of land goes for $120,000. The conversation turned to my assertion that in a sense land prices in Jakarta (and Bali) are too high. Why? Because one gets little to no “after-sale support” when one buys land in Indonesia. For comparison, I brought up my mother’s neighboorhood and house in Long Island, New York. Today, in Long Island one can buy a house for lower price than in Cipete. This house will come with an effetive police, fire and ambulance department. It will come with an effective court system and tax department. It will come with good schools, safe clean environs and good public transportation. A 45-minute train ride puts you in mid-town Manhattan. All of this for a lower price than a comparably sized house in Cipete, Jakarta.
@ Mauricio: I very much doubt whether expats deserve high marks in their relations with Indonesians (I’m irresponsibly generalizing of course). But I’m afraid their sometimes colonial attitudes are being shared by quite a number of Indonesian upstarts and members of the ‘elite’. Living behind the walls of a gated community means disregarding, ignoring, loosing touch with the real society. And looking down on the common peopled. Yes, being poor is hell in any metropolis. In that respect Jakarta isn’t that different from any major city. Working poor (working two or three jobs ) is a phenomenon even in the US ( and NW-Europe also unfortunately).
Your information about the price of land is as informative as it is amazing. It may show a bubble is developing. Thousand Euro for a square meter in a public services desert, is unbelievable indeed. I guess the crazy “market” is gambling conditions in this respect will improve in the future.
Btw: I can’t but agree with your description of the Cipete area where I stayed last year.
@ calvin: I share your hope. Perhaps Jokowi will mark an upswing. One day sensible administration of the city will start. It has to. Public services have to improve. Otherwise the city will come to a standstill one day.
I think I read an ad in kompas that a house in florida was priced about… 62,000 USD? that is actually considered cheap for house in Jakarta. it felt surreal because this is third world, but for some reason, houses in first world actually cheaper…
@ calvin: Yeah, you happen to live in a thriving metropolis – there is a huge demand for the best locations and the supply is limited. As for the US, the catastrophic2008 subprime mortgage crisis ( crises) is not over yet. On top of that it has always amazed me that in comparison to the quality of buildings at home (where they usually are meant to survive seventy five years, a hundreds or longer – I for instance live in a house which was built in ’33) a lot of American housing though providing many m3 and m2 and state of the art facilities, are of very modest quality.
@calvin that house in florida might be made of woods.. a lot of houses in the US are made of woods. plus the US is still in crisis.
@colson I used to cant wait to go back to Jakarta.. now, I long to escape jakarta’s pollution & traffic & noise..
as for the song:
my link didnt work in the previous comment: so here we go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlJ3wT1kJWE
this one is keroncong which is influenced by Portuguese http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5MsCdfyLHA
Ah yes, we have the Portuguese to blame for the whole thing. Were it not for their fateful decision to build a fortified position in fetid Sunda Kelapa, we would not now be having this discussion.
“…the U.S. is still in crisis.”
I visited the Homeland a few weeks ago after an absence of several years. Having heard all this talk of crisis and decline, I was a bit apprehensive about going home. It turns out that I was pleasantly surprised at how well put together the U.S. still is. At least where I was (Long Island and NYC) there was little evidence of crisis. I said to myself and posted on Facebook, “If this is decline and crisis, decline and crisis is precisely what many countries around the world need”. Ah yes, I was able to score 9,500 Indonesian rupiah to the U.S. dollar just two days ago.
@ triesti: I apologize for my ignorance(_0_). Though I don’t understand the lyrics the music indicates the song is positively dedicated to Jakarta.
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@ Mauricio: US in a good shape??? Are you kidding? Though the rate today is € 1 = $ 1.27 I don’t think Europe is good shape
The U.S. and Europe are not in good shape relative to themselves. Relative to the rest of the world (countries like Australia excepted), they are still head and shoulders above the rest. Singapore does not count cuz three boroughs of New York City are larger than Singapore.
@triesti
house made of woods, not sure about that, that would be pretty much crappy… because it’s very flammable.
@ Mauricio: That’s true. And I guess that in 25 years from now that still will be the case. Yet the balance Easy-West is shifting pretty dramatically presently.
@ calvin: triesti is right( though you won’t find them on Manhattan
). Like there are many ( fine, but relatively cheap) houses made of wood in Sweden or Norway.
@calvin, colson even some expensive houses around pebble beach are made of woods. In the big cities such as SF.. you still can find houses like these.. they are only a hand full.. it’s very ‘little house on the prairie’ kind of houses..
And they are not that flammable because the wood has been treated. I saw one wood house, that uses treated newspapers cut for its insulation and it was not flammable when they torch the insulation.
oh Colson, you quoted me ://D
emotional attachment defies logic I guess. I’d leave Jakarta if I could.. but I know it will always have a special place in my heart. you know.. as long as nothing unbelievably awful happens to traumatize me. god forbid. knock on wood!
@calvin But proper wood houses are expensive. In Indo, if you buy old wood from traditional houses that have been taken apart.. Those are seriously insanely expensive.. Even for the blocks of wood that don’t make up a whole house. And expensive to track as well, as it’s getting to be ‘trendy’ to have traditional houses or traditional elements in the house. The antiques can go for really high. And those can stand a lot of heat and pressure.
@ mousey: … it was too tempting. I had to quote those beautiful lines.
By the way: “knock on wood” is an elegant bridge between “Jakarta” and “wooden houses”
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Fully unintentional but I will preen nonetheless. *preens*
@ mousey: And “preen” is such a smooth nostalgic word for some reason. Just like “spleen” is in a quite different way.
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