Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Jakarta, the Big Durian

On 22 June 1527, Fatahillah, a warrior from the Islamic Sultanate of Demak, Central Java, attacked the Hindu Kingdom of Sunda, West Java, captured the port of Sunda Kelapa and changed its name to Jayakarta.

In 1619, the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) occupied the port and changed its name to Batavia.

In 1942, the Japanese military forces invaded Indonesia and changed the name of Batavia to its local name Jakarta.

On 17 August 1945, Indonesia declared its independence, and the Republic of Indonesia.was established with  Jakarta as capital city. Since then Jakarta has developed into the biggest city in Indonesia, and one of largest in the world, with a population of around 8.5 million people (2008) living in an area of around 640 Square Kilometers.

As a capital city, Jakarta is the center of political, business, financial, economic, social, educational and other activities in Indonesia.

And like other big city in n the world, Jakarta faced lots of challenges such as Public Transportations, Traffic Jams,  Floods, Poverty, Slum area, plenty of shopping malls but very few public parks, etc, etc.

The government of Jakarta has made efforts to improve transportation system by building the Busway mass transportation, and is planing to build other mass transportation system such as Monorail and Underground Train, as well as additional toll roads and non-toll roads. However, considering the rapid growth of personal vehicles, traffic jam is getting worst every day.

In order to handle the flood problem, an anti-flood canal has been built on the eastern part of Jakarta and by cleaning the existing waterways.

Further, to control air pollution, motor vehicles are required to go through regular emission check, places for smoking cigarettes are limited.

Furthermore, to provide better housing, low cost high-rise apartments are now being build in various parts of the city.       

However, Jakarta still has lots of other problems like Garbages Disposal, Unemployement, Criminal, Fresh water, Beggars/Tramps, Poverty, Slum area housings, Electricity, Corruptions, etc. etc.

In spite of all the inconveniences, Jakarta has much more to give to its citizens and visitors, such as good and relatively safe residential area, hospitals, educational institutions, places for Eating any kinds of Food from all over Indonesia and all over the World, indoor-outdoor Entertainment and Sports, shopping, etc. etc.
 
Considering the above, I felt that Jakarta is similar to my favorite fruit i.e. the Durian which has sharp thorns, thick skin, and smells okay although might not be good for some people, but TASTES A LOT MUCH BETTER THAN ANY OTHER FRUITS, therefore I would not want to exchange with any other fruit.

Happy 483rd Birthday Jakarta, I hope that the Big Durian city will become much safer, cleaner, lovelier and a lot much better place for people to live in the future.

19 comments:

Edwin's Personal Blog said...

jakarta, a colossal city with millions of slices of life. it is of sweet and sad stories within. above all, happy anniversary to you...

Blog Ekspor Impor said...

yes, just like a durian, living in jakarta really costs so much :) just kidding mas harry :)

Unknown said...

@Edwin,
Yeah, Jakarta has joy and sad stories

@Blog Ekspor Impor,
You are right, I should also mention that living cost is high in Jakarta thus similar to big durian.

CherylT said...

I think Jakarta sounds like a nice place to live and not much different than other parts of the world. Global economy meltdown. It's affecting everyone.

Unknown said...

CherylT,
I am glad to know that Jakarta is like any other cities in the world.

insurance agent said...

Hi,
Cool information about Jakarta. Historic place. Well done and keep it up. Have a visit to my site all about car insurance.
Good blog and keep it up.
;)

Unknown said...

Insurance Agent,
Thank you for your visit and comment.
I'll check your blog later.

Sense of Blogging said...

More duian... hope u visited Belitung Island.
okey... i have followed ur blog. hope u do the same to mine http://kpadaku.blogspot.com

colson said...

A fine tribute to the capital, Harry. I'm almost convinced. Well, you did actually since the few times I visited Jakarta, I too had very 'good vibrations'.

Though compared to the smell of a Big Apple, the smell of Durian still has to improve. And as a Dutchman I just have to put emphasis on the fact that one shouldn't underestimate the charm of a global village called "Mokum".

Yari NK said...

If you take Jakarta for a durian then I believe Jakarta is like 'gado-gado' or a hotchpotch to me where all things are to be found there, goods and bads. LOL.

Jakarta as a big metropolis will always its own problems demographically, socially, economically and environmentally.But I believe Jakarta will survive and keep growing up properly and prosperously. At least we have to keep the optimism that we can care to keep Jakarta in the best order.

Happy 483th anniversary Jakarta!

Unknown said...

Actually Jakarta is much like many other international cities with slums, unemployment, traffic jams, bad transportation, pollution, lack of green spaces etc. If it gets its house into order it could show the way to those other cities.


peter

Anna said...

Very interesting! Happy 483rd birthday Jakarta!

Unknown said...

@Belitung Blogging,
Thanks a lot, I'll visit and follow your blog soon.

@Colson,
In the '70s there was a movie titled Jakarta the Big Village which depicted the real Jakarta at that time. So many improvements have been made but some parts i.e. slum area and poverty still remain. But most of them will be eradicated in the future. Although the Big Durian may not smell as good as the Big Apple (New York) but it would be much better than today.

@Yari,
The nick name Big Durian has actually been used by many people
please check http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakarta.
But I agree that Jakarta is similar to Gado-gado i.e. a melting pot of all kinds of people, tribes, culture, etc.

@Peter/Kiwi,
You are right, Jakarta is facing all the problems faced by other big cities in the world. The city plans indicate that it will catch up with other cities' advantages.

@Classycareergirl,
Thank you for your visit and greetings for Jakarta.

Unknown said...

Happy 483rd anniversary Jakarta. By the way durian is like no other fruit in the world. Love the taste and love the smell of durian by the way.

Unknown said...

Umi,
Most of the people here love Durian and its great taste, only few that I knew doesn't.
But people from outside SE Asia are not familiar with the Durian therefore cannot stand the smell.
Every cities has it own good and bad sides. The most important is that how its citizens think and feel about the city.

Link Tea said...

Durian .. oh no.. it's very bad for my asam urat hahaha

Unknown said...

Link Tea,
If you don't eat durian very often, I am sure it would not increase your 'asam urat' level .... he he he

Jhess said...

Durian smells okay? Thats the under statement of the year ...lol I would love to visit some day and see the history.

Unknown said...

Jhess,
You should come here and try
the great taste of durian.
Thank you for dropping by.