Jakarta: A kaleidoscope of Indonesia

Tue, 07/01/2008 10:25 AM  |  City

I love Indonesia. Well, I should as a half Indonesian. I enjoy the almost Mediterranean flair of the Batak highlands surrounding the azure waters of Danau Toba, and I recently visited Yogyakarta, a grand historical town of the dignified sultan.

All that and the rowdy capital.

What first shocked me when I came to the city for the first time nine months ago was the terrible traffic. Macet (congestion) is an everyday phenomenon.

A scramble to get onto the busway is a challenge a city dweller must face. Street singers are everywhere, and you never know if you should feel sympathy for them or simply be annoyed by their presence.

But somehow, people in the city are fairer than in other places in Indonesia.

Here you will only be admired when you have achieved something through hard work. Nobody will love you just because of your "exotic" look. Jakartans are used to thousands of foreigners living in the city.

In other places, my bule (Western) look may draw attention, but here I am just another face in the crowd.

People from various parts of the archipelago also seem to mingle well despite stark contrasts of cultures.

They practice their own customs and proudly communicate with their family members in their own languages.

None of my Muslim friends or colleagues would ever forget even one of their five obligatory daily prayers.

Jakarta is indeed a kaleidoscope of the whole nation. Put everything you can find in Indonesia together in one place, all the good and the evil, the modern and the traditional, the rich and the poor, and you've got Jakarta.

Not everything is as I expected in this city. Some of my plans failed, but still I'm here, having survived this wild city somehow for more than nine months now.

That's still a very short time compared to some of my fellow Germans who have been living in Jakarta for several decades.

They told me how much this city has changed for the worse during the last 10 or 20 years concerning the traffic situation and its general appearance as well.

But compared to many other foreigners my age who often come here to do an three-month internship, nine months is quite a long time. Jakarta has made me more experienced and disciplined.

I have improved my time management, as you can never be sure if it's going to take you 10 minutes or an hour to get to your destination because of the omnipresent macet.

I have become more self-confident too. In fact, I think somehow the city has changed me into a whole new person. But I don't really know that yet. We don't realize how much we've changed until we return to our home country.

-- Frank Lutz

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