Jakarta as Dominant City

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Wilmar Salim; Benedictus Kombaitan

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CITY, VOL. 13, NO. 1, MARCH 2009

ISSN 1360-4813 print/ISSN 1470-3629 online/09/010120-09 2009 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/13604810902726335

JakartaThe rise and challenge of a capital

Wilmar Salim and Benedictus KombaitanTaylorandFrancis

Jakarta as the capital of Indonesia has exercised strong political power over the nation sincethe colonial era. The old and new order regimes have retained that position by introducingsymbols to represent a dignified center. This political power has also strengthened itseconomic development. The recent political movement following the fall of Soeharto led tothe strengthening of other cities, especially in Java. Decentralization processes have led to

the formation of new symbols in other regional cities and these emerging urban centershave grown in important ways. This paper will discuss the dominance of Jakarta and itsrelations with other cities in Indonesia. It explores the development of Jakarta in relation toother big cities and the possibility that the decentralization would create regional cities asrivals of Jakarta. It concludes that although the other cities in Indonesia have increasedtheir significance as regional centers through economic growth, they remain a shadow of

Jakartas dominance patterns. Nevertheless, there is an opportunity for other cities to repre-sent the alternative non-political symbols in contrast to the Indonesian capital.

Introduction

oekarno, the first president of Indone-sia, had a vision of how Jakartashould be built: His Jakarta was not

to be a model for other cities in Indonesia,not least as they might become potentialrivals. Instead, it had to be the center for

other cities in the nation (Kusno, 1997, p.95). Thus, Jakarta was not to be replicatedby other cities in Indonesia, but was,rather, to be privileged above them(Kusno, 1997, p. 113).1 We need to revisit towhat extent this vision has been changedafter almost a half century, throughregime changes, modernization and global-ization. In light of the growth of othercities, we need to discuss to what extentother cities have competed with Jakartaand shown any rivalry. Here we ask whatpossibility the current local autonomy,which boosts the political and economic

power of other cities, brings to their posi-tion relative to Jakarta?

In order to answer these questions, wewill look at the rise to dominance of

Jakarta, the growth of other urbancenters, and examples of city efforts toproject their regional identity. We arguethat although these efforts may represent

a symbolic challenge to Jakarta, the citiesthemselves are not rivals of Jakarta as thenations capital of political and economicpower. Instead these projects may be thesource for the sense of pride of regionalidentity that will maintain their status asperipheral capitals of regional economicpower.

Jakarta: the growth of an Asian mega city

Jakarta is not only where the nationalgovernment sits, with presidential palaces,

S


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SALIMAND KOMBAITAN: RISEANDCHALLENGEOF JAKARTA 121

parliamentary building and foreign embas-sies, but also has become a busy businesscity with office buildings, shopping centers,hotels and apartments. Two major airports(Kemayoran and Halim Perdanakusuma) anda seaport (Tanjung Priok) used to serve as thegates to domestic and international destina-tions. After the new airport (Soekarno-Hatta)was opened in Cengkareng (20 kilometerswest of Jakarta) in the mid-1980s, all domes-tic and international flights are now served bythis airport. As for internal transportation,main boulevards used to connect the citycenter with its suburbs, and a commuter elec-tric railway system used to connect Jakarta

with surrounding areas (Jabotabek). Whenprivate entities were invited to invest in tollroad developments since the 1990s, the planto connect all parts of the city by ringroads(inner and outer) was actualized.

The extensive development of Jakarta canbe observed also from its population andeconomic growth. From around half a millionpeople in 1930, Jakartas population grewalmost six-fold to 2.97 million in 1961. The

2005 registered population of Jakarta is almost9 million people, which makes it one of thefew mega cities in the Southern hemisphere,with a population density of over 12,000 persquare kilometer. The dynamics of populationgrowth were characterized by a decliningpopulation in the core city center and increas-ing population of the suburbs and outskirtsof Jakarta, which are confirmed by studieslooking at the phenomenon of Jakarta becom-

ing a mega-urban region (Dharmapatni andFirman, 1995; Firman, 1998; Jones, 2002;Mamas and Komalasari, 2008).

In terms of the economy, Jakarta enjoyed asubstantial growth of gross regional domesticproduct (GRDP) of around 8% per yearduring the 1980s and 1990s, with the contri-bution of the service sector being the highest,followed by the trade and manufacturingsectors. Before the economic crisis in 1997,the accumulative foreign direct and domesticinvestments since the beginning of the firstphase of the Long-term Development (PJPTI in 1969) was around US$18 billion and

Rp.35 trillion, respectively (Budiman et al.,1996). With the above conditions, the popu-lations of the Jakarta now equals the totalpopulations of the second to fifth largestcities in Indonesia (Surabaya, Bandung,Medan and Bekasi) and controls around 70%of the national economy.

The image of Jakarta as a capital is shapedmainly by the rulers of the country instead ofthe city leaders. Each ruler has differentvisions for Jakarta. Pratiwo and Nas (2005)made a distinction between the Old Orderversus New Order Era of Jakarta. Jakartaduring the Old Order period under Soekarno(195065) had ringroads, great works such

as Monumen Nasional and Masjid Istiqlal,and statues erected. The dispersed parts ofJakarta were homogenized physically andsymbolically as Soekarno tried to build thenation using unifying symbols and placedJakarta as his showcase. He made Jakartalook like the worlds great cities, such asParis, New York and Moscow, withsymbolic layers, colossal statues and build-ings. He also incorporated ideas to

strengthen Indonesian identity such as thelinggam yoni (pestle and mortar symboliz-ing man and woman and eternity) in thedesign of Monumen Nasional.

Jakarta during the New Order periodunder Soeharto (196798) was characterizedby broad avenues, highways and electric rail-way lines connecting the Jabotabek area,covered by hundreds of high-rise buildings,golf courses, luxurious housing estates, mega

malls, industrial estates and vast universitycampuses. Subsequently, Pratiwo and Nasassert that:

in Soehartos mind the whole superstructuredevelopment of Jakarta with high-risebuildings and new toll ways became thesymbol of his and Indonesias success in themodern world. Jakarta became the symbol ofdevelopment and modernization for thewhole country. (2005, p. 80)

One of the most striking initiatives proposedfor developing Jakarta into a world city wasthe plan in 1995 to reclaim the North coast of


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122 CITYVOL. 13, NO. 1

Jakarta, making some 2,800 hectares of landavailable for constructing high-rise buildingsfor offices, hotels and apartments, as well asmassive shopping malls, recreational areasand a transit center connecting the North-South line of the current transit system. ThisJakarta waterfront city development wasmeant to compete with other cities in Asia toearn global city status. However, as withmany other ambitious plans, the land recla-mation project was stalled in 1997 after theeconomic crisis.

Ten years after the crisis and after thereformasi,2 Jakarta has started refocusingdevelopment. A new project built since 2004

is a busway system connecting main termi-nals in several parts of Jakarta using dedi-cated lines in the main boulevards such asSudirman and Thamrin. Additionally, inorder to ease the effects of the annual flood,the government of Jakarta restored the planto build an East Flood Canal that wasplanned originally by the Dutch East Indies

government in order to anticipate flooding inBatavia, since the town was built on thefloodplain. The current national governmentseems not to prioritize the construction ofnew symbolic objects such as statues ormonuments; however, recently (September2007) a new statue of Soekarno and Hatta onthe boulevard en route to Soekarno-HattaInternational Airport in Tangerang was inau-gurated by President Yudhoyono, addinganother to the collection of Soekarno andHatta statues in Jakarta. The current presi-dent may not have the same ambition asSoekarno and Soeharto, but Jakartassymbolic projects still remain part of beauti-

fication project of the capital city (Figure 1).

The 2001 regional autonomy initiative andthe expansion of regional cities

After Soeharto was forced to resign fromoffice in May 1998, political reforms began

Figure 1 Statue of Soekarno and Hatta inaugurated in 2007


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objects while in regional cities cultural singu-larities are emphasized. This paper adds tothat hypothesis that those regional cities aretrying to show their importance in thenational urban constellation or hierarchy,against Jakarta. We attempt to identify a setof new urban elements emerging in Indone-sian regional cities and analyze the meaningsattached to these in order to see how theseelements represent both regional identitybuilding as well as symbolic competitionwith Jakarta. Each object does not necessarilyhave a face meaning to it, but it has an impliedmessage about it. The City of Surabaya inEast Java and Makassar in South Sulawesi are

used to illustrate this point.

Surabaya

Surabaya is the second largest city locatedon the North coast of East Java province,separated from Madura Island by Madurastrait. Considered as the main base for theIndonesian Navy as well as for the followers

of the largest Islamic organization in Indo-nesia (Nahdlatul Ulama), Surabaya tries toportray itself as symbolizing these twodominant associations. The first object is the

monument of Jalasveva Jayamahe in a navalbase near Tanjung Perak port, which is a 30-meter-high statue of a naval commanderlooking to the sea, the Madura strait, ontop of a 30-meter-high concrete building.

Jalasveva Jayamahe is the motto of theIndonesian Navy. There are no other statuesin Indonesia as large as this one whichsymbolize the navy. In fact JalasvevaJayamahe is currently the largest statue inIndonesia and will only be relegated whenthe statue of Garuda Wisnu Kencana in Baliis finally completed.4

The second project is a mosque, MasjidAl-Akbar (see Figure 2). Its name Akbar

(the great) is meant to signify the grand scaleof the mosque. The architecture of themosque sets it apart from other grandmosques in Indonesia. It has a large and talldome, accompanied by a tall minaret(tower). The size and design of the mosquesymbolize the desire of people of Surabayato have a grand mosque comparable toMasjid Istiqlal in Jakarta (see Figure 3) andMasjid Al-Markaz in Makassar. The

construction of Masjid Al-Akbar was startedin 1995, with the stone foundation inaugu-rated by then Vice President Try Sutrisno, anative son of Surabaya. It was completed in

Figure 2 Masjid Al-Akbar in Surabaya.


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SALIMAND KOMBAITAN: RISEANDCHALLENGEOF JAKARTA 125

2000, with an inauguration by PresidentAbdurrahman Wahid, the former leader of

Nahdlatul Ulama, during the Hero Daycelebrations (November 10).5 Both objectshave been the main symbols of heroic andreligious characters of Surabaya.

Another iconic project which is a sourceof pride for the people of Surabaya isSuramadu Bridge, which will link Surabayawith the District of Bangkalan on MaduraIsland. According to Franck the bridge:

is symbolic of processes and peopleshaping the mega-urban regions, whichinvolve powerful private and publicinterested parties it reflects the NewOrder vision of development based on amodern and exogenous industrialization andprivate capitals appetite for landdevelopment and infrastructure projects.(2005, p. 222)

This desire to develop grand objects repre-sents an attempt by Surabaya to distinguishitself from Jakarta and is in a large partspurred on by Surabayas new prominence asa regional city.

Makassar

While Makassar in South Sulawesi is the 10thlargest city in Indonesia, it is the largest cityin the eastern part of Indonesia. Makassar hasalways been the source of the regional iden-tity of the people of eastern Indonesia.Makassar is historically a city of regional andinternational economic importance, but ithad a peripheral position during the colonialperiod. Like Surabaya, Makassar also hasmonuments that testify to its importance. The

first object is Masjid Al-Markaz Al-Islami,which was said to be the largest mosque inIndonesia when it was opened in the late1990s. Unique design and architecture alsocharacterize this mosque. It was built withSaudi Arabian money and style (Antweiler,2002). The second object is the 75-meterMonumen Mandala, which was built to cele-brate the liberation of West Papua and with asimilar look to Monumen Nasional inJakarta.6 The trends towards replicatingJakartas urban objects in light of growingregionalism were then reinforced by theconstruction of a cultural park, which was

Figure 3 Masjid Istiqlal in Jakarta.


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built mirroring the Indonesian MiniaturePark in Jakarta.

Makassar nowadays has a shopping mallsimilar to those in Jakarta, which was openedin 1999, new luxury hotels, increasingnumbers of Chinese-style multistorey shop-houses, a new toll road to the harbor, andnew office buildings and industrial estates onthe way to the airport (Antweiler, 2005).There is also Tanjung Bunga district, whichwas planned for business and recreation in anultra-modernistic layout in the south of thecity, similar to what Jakarta has with KotaLegenda Wisata and other subdivisions in itssouthern fringe.

The above discussion shows how Jakartasicons of commerce and modernity are repli-cated in both Surabaya and Makassar, eitherin the form of mega-urbanization ormodernization of the cityscape. In addition,both cities have also incorporated symbols ofregional identity into their urban landscapeas they prosper. However, these symbolicchallenges to Jakarta by both cities areanswered by Jakarta by the inauguration of

the Soekarno-Hatta statue (see Figure 1). Itslocation on the way to Jakartas Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, the main gate toIndonesia, can be interpreted as sending amessage of reassurance that Jakartas status asthe capital is sustained by the historical factthat Soekarno and Hatta declared Indonesianindependence in this city.

Concluding remarks

This paper evaluates the dominance of Jakartaover other big cities in Indonesia in thecontext of growing regionalism following theimplementation of a decentralization policyin 2001. To answer the first question that thisstudy asked, we showed that Jakarta has heldstrong domination in the politics and econ-omy of the nation ever since the colonial era.The Jakarta that was originally designed bythe Dutch for half a million inhabitants hasgrown into one of the mega cities of theworld. Although the population growth

rate of Jakarta itself has slowed down, thesurrounding urban areas have grown rapidlyin the past few years. This suggests thatalthough Jakarta as a city has reached its peakin population size, as a mega-urban region itis still growing. The economy of Jakarta issignificantly larger than the economies ofother Indonesian cities. As the mega-urbanregion, Jakartas economy represents theprimary economic node of Indonesia. None-theless, assessing the growth of populationand economy of other cities that are not partof the mega-urban Jakarta region shows thatthey experienced significant growth follow-ing the new decentralization policy imple-

mented in 2001.Comparing the built environment of Sura-

baya and Makassar with Jakarta reveals twotrends. In terms of icons of commerce andmodernity, Surabaya and Makassar followthe same pattern as Jakarta. As both regionalcities grow in population and prospereconomically, these developments have led tonew malls, and office and hotel developmentssimilar to those in the capital city. The analy-

sis of urban symbolism in Surabaya andMakassar suggests that both cities use publicprojects to make statements of regional iden-tity and that they can compete with Jakarta inhaving grand religious buildings, monumentsand statues. This identity is represented inthe form of monuments and statues and,more recently, religious buildings withdistinctive design and architecture. If forJakarta urban symbolism is meant for nation-

building, memory preservation and beautifi-cation, for Surabaya and Makassar it is alsomeant as a medium for presenting a sense ofregional pride (rasa kedaerahan).

Besides Surabaya and Makassar, other bigcities in Indonesia also show similar trends increating urban objects with symbolic mean-ing. Taals account of Palembang assertsPalembang built Musi II Bridge to be thelongest in Indonesia, overtaking AmperaBridge which was the largest in Indonesia in1960s, as an expression of the element ofmodernity (Taal, 2002). This gives an answerto the second part of this study. Big cities


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Franck, M. (2005) Surabaya: the bridge to Madura, inP.J.M. Nas (ed.) Directors of Urban Change in Asia,pp. 205226. London/New York: Routledge.

Jones, G.W. (2002) Southeast Asian urbanization andthe growth of mega-urban regions, Journal ofPopulation Research 19(2), pp. 119136.

Kusno, A. (1997) Beyond the postcolonial:architecture, urban planning and political culturesin Indonesia. Dissertation in the Graduate Schoolof Binghantom University, State University of NewYork.

Mamas, S.G.M. and Komalasari, R. (2008) Jakarta:dynamics of change and livability, in G. Jonesand M. Douglass (eds) Mega-Urban Regions inPacific Asia: Urban Dynamics in Global Era, pp.109149. Singapore: Singapore University Press.

Nas, P.J.M. and Boender, W. (2002) The Indonesiancity in urban theory, in P.J.M. Nas (ed.) The

Indonesian Town Revisited, pp. 317. Singapore:ISEAS.

Pratiwo and Nas, P.J.M. (2005) Jakarta: conflictingdirections, in P.J.M. Nas (ed.) Directors of Urban

Change in Asia, pp. 7895. London/New York:Routledge.

Taal, S. (2002) Cultural expressions, collective memoryand the urban landscape in Palembang, in P.J.M.Nas (ed.) The Indonesian Town Revisited, pp. 172200. Singapore: ISEAS.

Wijanarka (2006) Soekarno dan Desain RencanaIbukota di Palangkaraya[Soekarno and Design ofCapital City Plan in Palangkaraya]. Yogyakarta:Penerbit Ombak.

Wilmar Salim is at the Institut TeknologiBandung, Indonesia. Email: [email protected]

Benedictus Kombaitan is at the InstitutTeknologi Bandung, Indonesia. Email: [email protected]


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CITY

analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action

VOLUME 13 NUMBER 1 MARCH 2009EDITORIAL 1

DECLARATIONSOFINDEPENDENCE: ANTI-IMMIGRATIONPOLITICSIN RURBAN AMERICASharon M. Meagher 5

SOCIALMOVEMENTSINTHEFACEOFCRIMINALPOWER: THESOCIO-POLITICALFRAGMENTATIONOFSPACEAND MICRO-LEVELWARLORDS ASCHALLENGESFOREMANCIPATIVEURBANSTRUGGLESMarcelo Lopes de Souza 26

Capital Cities and their Contested Roles in the Life of NationsINTRODUCTIONGran Therborn and K. C. Ho 53

RUNAWAYCHICKENS AND MYANMARIDENTITY: RELOCATING BURMASCAPITALDonald M. Seekins 63

POST-COLONIALPROJECTSOFANATIONALCULTURE: KUALA LUMPURAND PUTRAJAYABeng-Lan Goh and David Liauw 71

BANGKOK: GLOBALACTORINAMISALIGNEDNATIONALGOVERNANCEFRAMEWORKDouglas Webster and Chuthatip Maneepong 80

HANOI, VIETNAM: REPRESENTINGPOWERINANDOFTHENATIONWilliam S. Logan 87

VIENTIANE: AFAILURETOEXERTPOWER?John Walsh and Nittana Southiseng 95

CONTESTING TAIPEIASAWORLDCITYJenn-hwan Wang and Shuwei Huang 103

SHIFTINGSPACESOFPOWERIN METRO MANILAEmma Porio 110

JAKARTA: THERISEANDCHALLENGEOFACAPITALWilmar Salim and Benedictus Kombaitan 120

DHAKAANDTHECONTESTATIONOVERTHEPUBLICSPACEHabibul Haque Khondker 129

Alternatives: Pragues Days of Unrest and Greeces December eventsINTRODUCTIONPaul Chatterton 137


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CULTURALWORKERSOFTHEWORLDUNITE, YOUVENOTHINGTOLOSEBUTYOURTHEATRES:DNY NEKLIDU (DAYSOF UNREST) ANDTHEINITIATIVEFORACULTURAL PRAGUERobert Hollands 139

GREECESWINTEROFDISCONTENT

Antonis Vradis 146

ReviewsWHERETHERIVERMEETSTHECITY: TRACING LOS ANGELES SOCIALANDENVIRONMENTALMOVEMENTSReinventing Los Angeles: nature and community in the global city,by Robert GottliebReviewed by Beth Rose Middleton 150

WHITEOUT? GENTRIFICATIONANDCOLONIALISMININNER-CITY SYDNEY

Cities of whiteness, by Wendy S. ShawReviewed by Kari Forbes-Boyte 153

TAKINGSMALLTHINGSALLTHEWAYTOTHE BANKInvested interests: capital, culture, and the World Bank, by Bret BenjaminReviewed by Trevor J. Barnes 156

EndpieceISITALLCOMINGTOGETHER? THOUGHTSONURBANSTUDIESANDTHEPRESENTCRISIS:(15) ELITESQUADS: BRAZIL, PRAGUE, GAZAANDBEYOND.Bob Catterall 159

Jakarta as Dominant City

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