For the majority of its residents, Jakarta is a city of
promise. The lure of jobs and a better life has caused the city’s population to
escalate at an alarming rate, to more than 10 million. Visually
unprepossessing, this is a city of monotonous skyscrapers, apartment buildings,
shopping malls and traffic-choked highways, with few green spaces to break
things up. More positively, the nation’s largest metropolis has a rich cultural
life, with an abundance of performing and visual arts, and a laid-back,
courteous persona.
Capital to the world’s fourth most populous nation, Jakarta
is a city that verges on the chaotic. Just south of the harbour on Jakarta Bay
and Ancol recreation park is Kota, the old Batavia area, where remnants of
Dutch colonial rule reside. Heading south are Pecinan (Chinatown) and busy
Glodok, the electronics, gadget and computer centre of the city. A major
north–south artery, Jalan Hayam Wuruk merges into Jalan Gajah Mada, lined with
shops, restaurants, hotels and nightlife, ending at Monas (Freedom Square) in
the heart of Central Jakarta.
The busy Jalan Thamrin-Sudirman corridor, south of Monas, is
one of two major Central Business Districts (CBDs), a wall of glimmering glass
and steel with some of the most interesting high-rise architecture in Southeast
Asia. Creeping in bumper-to-bumper traffic, the thoroughfare in turn connects
with Jalan Rasuna Said and Gatot Subroto, the second CBD and a golden triangle
for national and international companies, banks, hotels, shopping malls and
embassies.
Surrounding the city mayhem on all sides are residential
areas, ranging from upper- and middle-class streets to the most basic shanties.
Scattered throughout are pockets that seem frozen in time, including diminutive
residential districts with market gardens and makeshift kampung (village)
dwellings that impart something of a village atmosphere to many back alleys. |
Also, see the Westhill
Consulting Travel Insight Guide Overview Destination Jakarta.
Places
to visit in Jakarta
Sunda Kelapa Harbour
| The city’s history began at the old spice trading seaport of Sunda Kelapa
Harbour. Early morning is the best time to walk along the 2km (1.25 mile) wharf
among the ships’ prows and gangways and witness one of the world’s last
remaining commercial sailing fleets. Filled with the romance of a bygone era,
watch the unloading of cargo from the majestic wooden pinisi schooners built by
the seafaring Bugis people of South Sulawesi.
The area around Sunda Kelapa is rich in history, and the
best way to survey the area is on foot. Near the river stands a 19th-century
Dutch lookout tower (Uitkik), constructed on the site of the original customs
house of Jayakarta. Behind the lookout stands a long two-storey structure
dating from VOC times, now the Museum Bahari (Maritime Museum). This warehouse,
now a maritime museum, was built by the Dutch in 1646 and was used to store
coffee, tea and Indian cloth. Inside are displays of traditional sailing craft
from all corners of the Indonesian archipelago, as well as some old maps of
Batavia.
The Old City | The
area known as Kota in the old Batavia quarter came to life in the 1620s as a
tiny, walled town modelled on Amsterdam. Most of the original settlement – Old
Batavia – was demolished at the beginning of the 19th century. Only the town
square area survived and has been restored and renamed Taman Fatahillah
(Fatahillah Square). Three of the surrounding colonial edifices have been
converted into museums, and the main square bustles at weekends with street
entertainers, old-fashioned bicycle rentals, artists and food vendors.
The Museum Sejarah Jakarta (Jakarta History Museum; closed
for renovations until 2014) was formerly Batavia’s city hall (Stadhuis),
completed in 1710 and used by successive governments until the 1960s. It now
houses memorabilia from the colonial period, notably 18th-century furnishings
and portraits of the VOC governors, along with many prehistoric, classical and
Portuguese-period artefacts.
The Museum Seni Rupa (Fine Arts Museum) occupies the former
Court of Justice building, completed in 1879. Its collections include paintings
and sculptures by modern Indonesian artists, and an important exhibition of
rare porcelain, featuring many Sung celadon pieces from the Adam Malik
collection, ancient Javanese water jugs (kendhi), and terracotta pieces dating
from the 14th century.
Freedom Square |A
137-metre (450ft) tall marble obelisk is set in the centre of Medan Merdeka
(Freedom Square). There is an observation deck at the top surmounted by a
14-metre (45ft) bronze flame sheathed in 33kg (73lbs) of gold symbolising the
spirit of freedom. It was commissioned by Sukarno and completed in 1961 – a
combination Olympic Flame-Washington Monument with the phallic overtones of an
ancient Hindu-Javanese lingga. The National History Museum in the basement
contains 12 dioramas depicting historical scenes from a nationalistic
viewpoint. A high-speed elevator rises to the observation deck, where on a
clear day there is a fabulous 360-degree view of Jakarta.
Mesjid Istiqlal | The
imposing white-marble Mesjid Istiqlal (Istiqlal Mosque) on Jalan Veteran is the
largest mosque in Southeast Asia and was built on the former site of the Dutch
Benteng (Fort) Noordwijk. During the Islamic fasting month, Ramadan, the mosque
is filled to capacity. Tours of the mosque are available.
National Museum | On
the west side of Medan Merdeka lies one of Indonesia’s great cultural
treasures, the National Museum. Known as Museum Gajah because of the bronze
elephant statue in front, presented by King Chulalongkorn of Siam, it was opened
in 1868 by the Batavian Society for Arts and Sciences – the first scholarly
organisation in colonial Asia, founded in 1778. The museum houses valuable
collections of antiquities, books and ethnographic artefacts acquired by the
Dutch during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Objects of interest include
Hindu-Javanese stone statuary, prehistoric bronzeware and Chinese porcelain.
The star collection is housed in the Treasure Room – a stupendous hoard of
royal Indonesian heirlooms. The Ceramics Room features the largest collection
of Southeast Asian ceramics under one roof.
