Living in Jakarta: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The city at night - makes the pollution less noticeable

In 2010/11  I spent five months in Jakarta, predominantly studying Indonesian language. I left Indonesia directly after my graduation ceremony and since then I've spent two weeks in Vietnam then returned to NZ.

Jakarta is a developing city in a developing country. It has about 10 million people and many issues that you would expect from a place that only emerged from brutal dictatorship in 1998. The following is my experience of Jakarta:

It's extremely important to make the point that I believe all the problems I've outlined are solvable. I won't claim to have the answers but I think solving the issues is a question of national priorities. If a big portion of Indonesia's population are struggling through life, worrying whether they will have enough food to eat then they are probably not going to be as focused on stopping corruption or rally the government to introduce tough environmental standards.

Some lovely kids I met in a poor area

THE GOOD:

FRIENDLY PEOPLE

Off the top of my head the best thing about Jakarta is the people.. If it weren't for so many kind, humble and friendly people it would have been difficult to stick around for so long. Partly by virtue of being a Westerner, most Indonesian are curious about you. I've often been able to sit down with guards, street vendors and average Indonesian and have pretty decent conversations. They love to ask about what religion you are and are often surprised to hear I'm an atheist.

A DYNAMIC, INTERESTING AND BUSY CITY

Jakarta is a big, bustling place in a country that has very strong economic growth year on year. In addition, you can pretty much walk on the street anywhere, anytime and find people eating or selling something. There are many good pubs, clubs, restaurants, street vendors and malls.  Getting to these places without mind-numbing hours of traffic is a problem.

THE FOOD:

Indonesian food is pretty damn delicious. Favourites for me are gado-gado which is a salady dish with tempe, rice, egg and a delicious peanut sauce. For sweetness, you can't go past martabak. I've probably got diabetes from the few times I've eaten this delicious deep fried chocolaty, spongy desert but it is ridiculously good.

Indo food is heavily rice and noodle orientated and spice and sugar are the overwhelming taste in a lot of dishes. When I order food there I have to specifically ask for no spice because my tongue is not so fond of the sensation of being on fire.

LOW PRICES

You can buy DVD's for about One dollar

A typical meal goes for between 80 cents and 3 dollars including drink

You can get an hour long massage for about 10 bucks

I got a month long gym membership at a decent gym for just 11USD.

Tidung Island near Jakarta.. Still a bit dirty

Prices are geared for the locals and a humble Western income can allow you a comparatively luxurious lifestyle in Indo. 

LACK OF REGULATION:

In developing countries there is often a sense of the untamed. There's usually less regulation or regulations that are very loosely enforced. You see hilarious/incredibly dangerous behaviour that you people couldn't get away with in Western countries. Examples are people carrying enormous beams of wood on their motorcycle, children as young as eight driving scooters with no helmets etc etc. I know a lot of Indonesians who have no form of driver's license but they've been driving on the road for years. I don't advocate dangerous behavior but at least Indonesia is not incredibly controlling like Singapore

THE BAD:

TOO MUCH TRAFFIC COMBINED WITH NO DECENT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Jakarta has recently been ranked the second worst city in the world to work.

For anyone who has ever been here, you would quickly know why this tops my list as the worst part of Jaks. Sitting in a car, waiting to get to where you want to go and rotting away is not my idea of a good time. Sometimes journeys of just a couple of kilometers can take OVER AN HOUR!!! 

It's at these moments of extreme frustration and boredom that I want to scream obscenities at no one in particular, leave Jakarta and never return. You can't escape traffic by making a u-turn cause most of the roads have a concrete divide. The lack of public transport makes getting anywhere take a long time. If you want to take the bus way, it is fairly comfortable and decent but you have to switch buses many times and the location for the stops are limited. They need an MRT and I hope they get one built soon.

Some paper boys on my campus

NOT BEING ABLE TO BLEND IN:

Being young and white in Jakarta means a lot of attention. It is rare that I would go to an area in Jakarta and not have people whispering "bule" (basically means white person) as I walk by. There's outright staring, laughing, flattering comments, not so flattering comments. Part of it comes from the comparative lack of Westerners in Jakarta, particularly young Westerner's so you are a bit of a novelty. Most of the attention is positive but you can't feel like you really fit in a place when people so obviously treat you differently. If an Indonesian walked through the streets of most of New Zealand, I doubt kiwis would be whispering "Indo, Indo" and laughing as they walked past.

The grotty waters on North Jakarta where many people fish

PERILOUS FOOTPATHS AND SMELLY SEWERS

Trying to walk on the footpaths in a lot of parts of Jakarta is risky business. They are narrow or non-existent, have a lot of bumps, uneven ground and are packed with stalls selling stuff. Sewers are smelly by definition but generally they are hidden deep underground. In Jakarta you will inevitably walk by spots with open sewers and get a revolting waft of turd.

Needless to say, not many people walk long distances in Jaks.

An impoverished kitten that wondered round my campus

THE UGLY:

LACK OF CARE TOWARDS SOME ANIMALS:

Indonesia has an active illegal wildlife trade, particularly with exotic birds and animals that are used in Chinese medicine. I think a lot of Indonesians do care for animals but perhaps animal treatment standards aren't at the top of the country's priority list.

Reasonably often you can see performing monkeys known as "topeng monyet" (monkey with mask) on the street. Monkeys are a naturally dominant species so in order for them to perform tricks, the tamer will pull on a chain around the monkeys neck continuously so the monkey rides a bike or some other grotesque act.

 There are a lot of stray cats around the place and they are often sickly thin. People will feed them but they breed at such a rate (because very few of them are spayed or neutered). Most cats have short or broken tails. According to my friends, there is a belief that a cat with a long tail will behave naughtily.

Dogs are quite rare because most people in Jakarta are Muslim and dogs are a haram (unclean) thing in the Qur'an.

At my course graduation with some Korean classmates

POLLUTION/HEAT:

Jakarta is hot..This is true for a lot of South East Asia though. Jakarta is even more hot and humid than it should be because of the thick coating of smog surrounding the city traps heat inside. On a sunny day it is usually difficult to see the horizon and if you are outside you will almost certainly be perspiring and getting those nice cheap clothes you brought wet from sweat. I saw a statistic that shows that from 2000-2011,Jakarta went from over 30 percent of the city being Green space to just 9 percent. The main reason for the destruction of green space was for the creation of malls.

MALLS:

A two headed coin; people love to shop and some of the malls are pretty swanky and have a nice atmosphere, there's just so bloody many of them!

They create traffic because most of them are next to highways, a guy from New York told me that Jakarta has way more malls than the big apple and the population of New York is nearly double (19million) Jakarta's 10 mill.

RIDICULOUS DISPARITY BETWEEN RICH AND POOR

While there are wealth gaps between all countries, it's so frigging obvious in Jakarta. You can literally have a street full of rich people's houses and have people who sleep on that same street next to the wagon they sell drinks from. There are child beggars all over the place, some of them are part of an organised group, others are just hungry.

Indo fitness god Ade Rai

LACK OF REGULATION/ LAWLESSNESS

A downside of countries that don't strictly enforce laws is safety is not always a priority. Things that are very mundane in the West such as builders wearing safety helmets are just not followed sometimes. You see them standing atop enormous tile roofs with no harness and just a pair of sandals. In huge buildings there are sometimes just one fire exit, a sure-as-hell death-trap if one ever happens within these structures. People still die here from things that are easily preventable. The road toll is atrocious.

CORRUPTION:

Thankfully New Zealand is low on the list of corrupt countries in the world.In Indonesia on the other hand, nearly anyone you talk to is aware of how rampant corruption is. I've heard first-hand accounts from people in government about the misappropriation of funds for personal benefit. There are so many problems in Jakarta that need money to assist in fixing them people who steal so they can buy themselves a new car or holiday are particularly big scumbags. Until corruption is properly dealt with the rest of the above problems will be very difficult to rectify.

All and all, I still enjoyed a lot of Jakarta and I may spend more time living there, not long-term though!

Aku mau feedback dari orang Indonesia jadi tolong menulis kalau Anda mau!

Some thoughts on living in Indonesia

I wrote this just after I returned from Indonesia in February... I was there for nearly two months. Makasih banyak untuk membacar ini.


Indonesia is one of the most populated countries in the world and the region with the most Muslims, and yet it's a place that I think few people in the West know much about.

The chance to travel and discover a new culture is something that I always jump upon so when the opportunity to go on a journalism practicum in Jakarta came up, I went for it.

The impression one would get from the media was that Indonesia was full of danger, terrorism or environmental disasters. While these things were relevant issues they are far from the full picture. I felt safe and welcome during my entire two month trip.

My friend and I arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International at the end of 2009 with open minds but little idea of what Jakarta would be like. Our pre-departure guide went into great detail about things to be aware of but was light on photos.

As we walked from the plane towards the customs area of the airport we were greeted with the cheerful sign warning us that drug trafficking was punishable by death.

Two friendly girls from the University we were to attend greeted us at the airport and instructed us about how much money we would need for the first few days. One of them advised me that 250,000 Indonesian Rupiah (about 27 USD) should get us through the next few days. I was dumbfounded.

The taxi driver back to our Kos (accommodation) introduced us to the chaos that is Jakarta traffic (in Indonesian "macet"). He flashed his lights and honked his horn with gusto. Motorbikes weaved within centimetres of the car and an assortment of vehicles from the very flash to the should-be-banned-from-the-road filled the jam-packed highways. The noise was incredible. (I was to learn that even a short journey by taxi can take thirty minutes).

As the taxi approached came the city I was surprised by the immediate contrasts. We passed by densely populated areas of rusting, corrugated iron houses surrounded by rubbish that were just metres away from luxury highrise buildings.

To get to my kos we travelled down an extremely narrow streets lined with vendors selling fruit, cellphone credit and nearby there were performing monkeys (topeng monyet) that were cruelly beaten into wearing masks and performing tricks. My kos had a large security gate but as one of the young guards pulled it open and let us in he gave us a big smile. The hospitality from the locals was amazing.

A group of about 10 New Zealander's and Australians including myself, walked from our kos to uni each day. During this walk locals would often wave, stare and ask; "How are you Mr?" Being one of the few white faces in the city was an experience because you are the focus of so much attention.

Some people asked for photos with me and would enthustically say "bule" (the exact definition is in dispute but it ranges from "foreigner" to "whitey" to "albino").
Getting across the major roads is a daunting challenge. There are few crossings and the ones that do exist are usually ignored by cars. Generally, you just raise your hand and walk out onto the extremely busy roads. Cars will usually wait for you and motorbikes will weave around you.

In a country where the minimum wage is about 110 USD a month, a person with a modest income from the West can live very well. A decent meal costs between three and six dollars and warung's (street vendors) are even cheaper.

It can be tough seeing the suffering that some of the people living in Jakarta endure. Many of the luxuries that we take for granted in the West are made possible because poor countries like Indonesia have factories that produce goods for poverty wages. Outside of the luxury super malls that Jakarta has so many of, there are often young children holding umbrellas to walk you through the rain for 20 cents or beggars, missing teeth or limbs sitting looking desolate with their arms outstretched.

While I already aware of these problems, seeing the desperation of these people for myself made it more personal and real.

There was a resilience and inherent friendliness from many of the locals who have so little but are so generous which I found touching. On many occasions where I found myself lost, I would have no problem finding someone to help me out.

A big cultural difference from the West was the Muslim religion. Going into shopping malls and walking past rooms full of people kneeling in prayer was not something I was used to. Similarly, at the designated times throughout the day, the sad wailings of the mosques would blare from the loudspeakers which was both beautiful at times and occasionally trying (especially at 5 am in the morning).

Learning the language at a local University was a fantastic introduction to the country because I got the chance to interact with locals my own age who had as much curiousity about me and my culture as I did about theirs.

Jakarta is a place that often gets a bad wrap from travellers but it has great spots to hang out if you know where to go. I was very lucky to become friends with students from Atma Jaya University, some tourism ambassadors for the city and to stay with Indonesians in different parts of the country. I also became close with the family of the woman I was seeing there and being welcomed into their family gave me an insight into a completely different way of life.

Aside from Jakarta I travelled right through Java and Bali but I really only scraped the surface.

Indonesia is not a place that is easy to summarise because there is literally so much happening at any one time. As an emerging democracy and a country that just 12 years ago, was controlled by a dictator there are many issues they have yet to tackle. From corruption, to poverty, to environemtal degradation, public transport - the list goes on. But for all of that - the country, the people are beautiful and fantastic and it was an unforgetable and character building experience. I highly recommend a visit!

Aku cinta Indonesia sangat banyak dan akan segera kembali ke sana lagi