Jakarta under siege

 Jakarta as the capital and front yard of 250-millions-populations of Indonesia faces probable floods[1]. For the past 2 months, dozens uninviting floods have roamed the area wildly. Bad sewage system and highly un-manageable garbage disposal have been blamed though real responses are not in the proximity yet. Nearby cities whose rivers cross the capital exactly through the downtown, contribute to this water problem. For example, Ciliwung River, the most famous and longest river in the area, passes several business districts such as Thamrin City, Rasuna Said and Gambir. This river’s length can be tracked from Gunung Salak in West Java to Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta for as long as 332 km.

 Though the mega-city is about to lose its throne due to its notorious traffic-jams and unending floods, many people still believe that the city's status as the economic epicenter unlikely be replaced. Growing in rapid pace since the 17^th century, Jakarta attracts talented and wealthy businessmen from every corner of Indonesia. Hence, several trades and business areas are spotted in almost every part of the city whilst Tana Abang remains the busiest one. The oldest University in the country, the fancy University of Indonesia, is also located in the town along with many other elite private universities such as Pelita Harapan and Bina Nusantara which also have  triggered more urbanization. While education and business have put Jakarta in spot-light since colonials era, politics has propelled the city’s population for no more than 20 years.

The flood issue in Jakarta is a prevailing task which has been tried to solve since Bang Yos era in 1990’s. A copycat design to polder pond in the Netherland had been proposed in 1990 before other ideas came up in 2000’s such as river re-vitalization, re-planting water absorber areas in Puncak, Bogor and imposing a severe penalty on river-littering. None of these proposals was implemented. Some said it was due to budget-in-availability. Other said it was because the project was object of political dominance in either municipality parliament or national parliament.            

March 1^st, 2020

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[1] Worthy of belief