View Point: We love our malls, and that’s the problem

Tasa Nugraza Barley ,  Maryland   |  Mon, 09/29/2008 7:18 AM  |  Opinion

I was having a conversation with a friend from Jakarta over the Internet several days ago. When I asked her if there are some new places in Jakarta that young people go to, she said, “What kind of places do you mean? One thing for sure — we have lots of new malls.”

She went on to tell me about these new malls, which include Senayan City, Grand Indonesia and Pacific Place.

She reminded me of how Jakartans are so much in love with malls and shopping centers. What is a mall, anyway? A mall is simply a big modern building where people can go to shop. Unlike the traditional markets, a mall is very convenient; it is an air-conditioned building, clean and safe.

Having lived in Jakarta for six years I know how much Jakartans love their malls. I was one of them. While I never visited Monas not even once my friends and I would go to a mall at least once a week for various reasons.

I went to malls to shop. I went to malls to eat with friends on special occasions. I went to malls to watch movies. I went to malls to have a business meeting. I even went to malls just to use their bathroom.

And just like other people of Jakarta I was proud of having those big malls in my city. I remember a friend of mine from the Netherlands who was so amazed to see how Jakarta’s malls could be so big and beautiful. “This city has the greatest malls,” he said.

But I’m not a big fan of malls anymore.

How many malls do you think are enough for a city like Jakarta? Is one mall enough for us? Maybe not. What about five? Or 10? Or perhaps 20 malls are enough for a city with a population of more than 8 million people? What if I tell you that Jakarta has more than 30 malls and shopping centers? That number doesn’t include those in cities such as Depok, Tangerang
and Bekasi.

At first I thought people in Jakarta really loved their malls. But when I examined this phenomenon closely I found out this is not really the case. I discovered that people of this city are actually forced to love them.

For people with money — by this I don’t mean only the rich people — malls and other kinds of big buildings have become the only places where they can feel secure and comfortable. Only within those big and strong walls they can breath fresh air — although it’s not that fresh after all.

One may ask what’s wrong with having so many malls. Well, there are so many things that can go wrong if we keep building more malls.

In general I think there are two kinds of problems: Environmental and social problems.

Environmentally, having more malls means we have less green area. It simply means there are more trees sacrificed for the sake of people’s greed. We all know how insufficient green areas have led us to become a fragile city with little capacity to absorb rainwater.

It is an irony that people of Jakarta are not smart enough to realize they who are among the lower and middle income families are actually the ones giving the most profit to the mall owners. But when the flood comes during the rainy season they are the ones who suffer the most; while the rich, people who gain the most from malls including people who actually built them, can easily evacuate themselves to five-star hotels or even other countries.

Socially, having more malls means that our children are victimized by the arrogance of commercialization. As we all know malls have become the only places of entertainment for people in Jakarta, including the young Indonesians.

There is no such thing as window shopping; that is a misleading jargon created by mall owners. The fact is when you go to a mall you will always have to pay for something. It could be the parking ticket, some drinks or food or something else.

Another social problem caused by having too many malls is the wide economic gap between people of Jakarta.

By having more malls this gap is getting wider and wider, creating an unfriendly society for all of us.

Today, malls represent your social status. People with more money will go to ritzy malls such as Senayan City, Pondok Indah Mall or Grand Indonesia. People with less money will go to smaller malls in the outer city areas. And people with no money, sadly, can’t go anywhere.

The solution for this whole problem is simple.

One, the local government has to stop the development of modern shopping centers. We know there are several malls that sit on locations that are supposed to be green areas. Closing them down wouldn’t be that complicated if only our local government had the willingness to support the people’s interest.

Second, the local government has to start creating more outdoor attractions such as Taman Menteng. Our officials should learn how other large cities are trying to provide their residents with free outdoor attractions where people from different social classes can have a good time together. But making them free is not enough — it is important to also make them safe and clean.

It’s really the time for us to unite and say we don’t need any more malls. I have heard a lot of complaints from so many friends who feel depressed to see how the development in Jakarta is going down the wrong track. They say our city is becoming so arrogant. I think they are right and I think it’s time for us to change that.

Let’s do this together. Let’s say no to malls.

The writer is a postgraduate student in Washington D.C. His personal blog is http://guebukanmonyet.com

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