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JAKARTA |
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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 giant, threadbare patch of grass marks the spiritual
centre of Jakarta, if not exactly its geographical one, bordered to the
west by the city's major north-south thoroughfare. The main commercial
district and the budget accommodation enclave of Jalan Jaksa lie just a
short distance to the south of Merdeka. |
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