Bapak, Ibu yth. ini artikel yg sangat menarik tentang pembangunan Jakarta,
terutama juga bagi Planners... maaf kalau sudah ada yg pernah membaca di media
atau milis yg lain...
salam hangat,
Eko.
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Eko
Ini ada berita menarik bagi anak anak di PPI
Prancis nih. Wah bener bener sedih deh mbaca
artikel ini. Tapi memang ada benarnya lhooo
Sediiih
FLM
Jakarta (Jaya Karta - Prosperous, Glorious City)
Capital City of Indonesia, what are they doing to you!
JAKARTA , INDONESIA A SINKING GIANT?
by Andre Vltchek
Today, high-rises dot the skyline, hundreds of
thousands of vehicles belch fumes on congested
traffic arteries and super-malls have become the
cultural centers of gravity in Jakarta, the
fourth largest city in the world. In between
towering super-structures, humble kampongs house
the majority of the city dwellers, who often
have no access to basic sanitation, running water or waste management.
While almost all major capitals in the Southeast
Asian region are investing heavily in public
transportation, parks, playgrounds, sidewalks
and cultural institutions like museums, concert
halls and convention centers, Jakarta remains
brutally and determinately 'pro-market'
profit-driven and openly indifferent to the
plight of a majority of its citizens who are poor.
Most Jakartans have never left Indonesia, so
they cannot compare their capital with Kuala
Lumpur or Singapore; with Hanoi or Bangkok.
Comparative statistics and reports hardly make
it into the local media. Despite the fact that
the Indonesian capital is for many foreign
visitors a 'hell on earth,' the local media
describes Jakarta as "modern," "cosmopolitan," and "a sprawling metropolis."
Newcomers are often puzzled by Jakarta's lack of
public amenities. Bangkok, not exactly known as
a user-friendly city, still has several
beautiful parks. Even cash-strapped Port
Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea, boasts
wide promenades, playgrounds, long stretches of
beach and sea walks. Singapore and Kuala Lumpur
compete with each other in building wide
sidewalks, green areas as well as cultural
establishments. Manila, another city without a
glowing reputation for its public amenities, has
succeeded in constructing an impressive sea
promenade dotted with countless cafes and
entertainment venues while preserving its World
Heritage Site at Intramuros. Hanoi repaved its
wide sidewalks and turned a park around
Huan-Kiem Lake into an open-air sculpture museum.
But in Jakarta, there is a fee for everything.
Many green spaces have been converted to golf
courses for the exclusive use of the rich. The
approximately one square kilometer of Monas
seems to be the only real public area in a city
of more than 10 million. Despite being a
maritime city, Jakarta has been separated from
the sea, with the only focal point being Ancol,
with a tiny, mostly decrepit walkway along the
dirty beach dotted with private businesses.
Even to take a walk in Ancol, a family of four
has to spend approximately $4.50 (40,000
Indonesian Rupiahs) in entrance fees, something
unthinkable anywhere else in the world. The few
tiny public parks which survived privatization
are in desperate condition and mostly unsafe to use.
There are no sidewalks in the entire city, if
one applies international standards to the word
"sidewalk." Almost anywhere in the world (with
the striking exception of some cities in the
United States, like Houston and Los Angeles) the
cities themselves belong to pedestrians. Cars
are increasingly discouraged from traveling in
the city centers. Wide sidewalks are understood
to be the most ecological, healthy and efficient
forms of short-distance public transportation in
areas with high concentrations of people.
In Jakarta, there are hardly any benches for
people to sit and relax, and no free drinking
water fountains or public toilets. It is these
small, but important, 'details' that are symbols
of urban life anywhere else in the world.
Most world cities, including those in the
region, want to be visited and remembered for
their culture. Singapore is managing to change
its 'shop-till-you-drop' image to that of the
center of Southeast Asian arts. The monumental
Esplanade Theatre has reshaped the skyline,
offering first-rate international concerts in
classical music, opera, ballet, and also
featuring performances from some of the leading
contemporary artists from the region. Many
performances are subsidized and are either free
or cheap, relative to the high incomes in the city-state.
Kuala Lumpur spent $100 million on its
philharmonic concert hall, which is located
right under the Petronas Towers, among the
tallest buildings in the world. This impressive
and prestigious concert hall hosts local
orchestra companies as well top international
performers. The city is currently spending
further millions to refurbish its museums and
galleries, from the National Museum to the National Art Gallery.
Hanoi is proud of its culture and arts, which
are promoted as its major attraction millions
of visitors flock into the city to visit
countless galleries stocked with canvases, which
can be easily described as some of the best in
Southeast Asia. Its beautifully restored Opera
House regularly offers Western and Asian music treats.
Bangkok's colossal temples and palaces coexist
with extremely cosmopolitan fare international
theater and film festivals, countless
performances, jazz clubs with local and foreign
artists on the bill, as well as authentic
culinary delights from all corners of the world.
When it comes to music, live performances and
nightlife, there is no city in Southeast Asia as vibrant as Manila.
Now back to Jakarta. Those who have ever visited
the city's 'public libraries' or National
Archives building will know the difference. No
wonder; in Indonesia education, culture and arts
are not considered to be 'profitable' (with the
exception of pop music), and are therefore made
absolutely irrelevant. The country spends the
third lowest amount in the world on education
(according to The Economist, only1.2 percent of
its GDP) after Equatorial Guinea and Ecuador
(there the situation is now rapidly improving
with the new progressive government).
Museums in Jakarta are in appalling condition,
offering absolutely no important international
exhibitions. They look like they fell on the
city from a different era and no wonder the
Dutch built almost all of them. Not only are
their collections poorly kept, but they lack
elements of modernity there are no elegant
cafes, museum shops, bookstores or even public
archives. It appears that the individuals
running them are without vision and creativity.
However, even if they did have inspired ideas,
there would be no funding to carry them out.
It seems that Jakarta has no city planners, only
private developers that have no respect for the
majority of its inhabitants who are poor (the
great majority, no matter what the understated
and manipulated government statistics say). The
city abandoned itself to the private sector,
which now controls almost everything, from
residential housing to what were once public areas.
While Singapore decades ago, and Kuala Lumpur
recently, managed to fully eradicate poor,
unsanitary and depressing kampongs from their
urban areas, Jakarta is unable or unwilling to
offer its citizens subsidized, affordable
housing equipped with running water,
electricity, a sewage system, wastewater
treatment facilities, playgrounds, parks,
sidewalks and a mass public transportation system.
Rich Singapore aside, Kuala Lumpur with only 2
million inhabitants boasts one metro line (Putra
Line), one monorail, several efficient Star LRT
lines, suburban train links and high-speed rail
system connecting the city with its new capital
Putrajaya. The "Rapid" system counts on hundreds
of modern, clean and air-conditioned buses.
Transit is subsidized; a bus ticket on "Rapid"
costs only $.60 (2 Malaysian Ringgits) for
unlimited day use on the same line. Heavily
discounted daily and monthly passes are also available.
Bangkok contracted German firm Siemens to build
two long "Sky Train" lines and one metro line.
It is also utilizing its river and channels as
both public transportation and as a tourist
attraction. Despite this enormous progress, the
Bangkok city administration claims that it is
building an additional 50 miles (80 kilometers)
of tracks for these systems in order to convince
citizens to leave their cars at home and use public transportation.
Polluting pre-historic buses are being banned
from Hanoi, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and
gradually from Bangkok. Jakarta, thanks to
corruption and phlegmatic officials, is in its own league even in this field.
Mercer Human Resource Consulting, in its reports
covering quality of life, places Jakarta
repeatedly on the level of poor African and
South Asian cities, below metropolises like Nairobi and Medellin.
Considering that it is in the league with some
of the poorest capitals of the world, Jakarta is
not cheap. According to the Mercer Human
Resource Consulting 2006 Survey, Jakarta ranked
as the 48th most expensive city in the world for
expatriate employees, well above Berlin (72nd),
Melbourne (74th) and Washington D.C. (83rd). And
if it is expensive for expatriates, how is it
for local people with a GDP per capita below $1,000?
Curiously, Jakartans are silent. They have
become inured to appalling air quality just as
they have gotten used to the sight of children
begging, even selling themselves at the major
intersections; to entire communities living
under elevated highways and in slums on the
shores of canals turned into toxic waste dumps;
to the hours-long commutes; to floods and rats.
But if there is to be any hope, the truth has to
eventually be told, and the sooner the better.
Only a realistic and brutal diagnosis can lead
to treatment and a cure. As painful as the truth
can be, it is always better than self-deceptions and lies.
Jakarta has fallen decades behind capitals in
the neighboring countries in esthetics,
housing, urban planning, standard of living,
quality of life, health, education, culture,
transportation, food quality and hygiene. It has
to swallow its pride and learn from Kuala
Lumpur, Singapore, Brisbane and even in some
instances from its poorer neighbors like Port Moresby, Manila and Hanoi.
Comparative statistics have to be transparent
and widely available. Citizens have to learn how
to ask questions again, and how to demand
answers and accountability. Only if they
understand to what depths their city has sunk can there be any hope of change.
"We have to watch out," said a concerned
Malaysian filmmaker during New Year's Eve
celebrations in Kuala Lumpur. "Malaysia suddenly
has too many problems. If we are not careful,
Kuala Lumpur could end up in 20 or 30 years like Jakarta!"
Could this statement be reversed? Can Jakarta
find the strength and solidarity to mobilize in
time catch up with Kuala Lumpur? Can decency
overcome greed? Can corruption be eradicated and
replaced by creativity? Can private villas
shrink in size and green spaces, public housing,
playgrounds, libraries, schools and hospitals expand?
An outsider like me can observe, tell the story
and ask questions. Only the people of Jakarta
can offer the answers and solutions.
Subject: FW: Harta Jarahan Keluarga Soeharto (Laporan Time, 24 Mei 1999)
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