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s Jakarta moves at a frenetic pace toward modernization, native Betawi culture plays an important role in providing a much-needed identity for the metropolitan.

An expert on local culture, Yasmine Zaky Shahab of the University of Indonesia, said that currently the native Betawi culture did not only belong to the natives of the city, but “immigrants” who had adopted it.

“People say that Betawi culture has fallen by the way side, but this is not the case,” Yasmine told a discussion at the University of Indonesia in Depok, West Java.

In fact, the native culture of Jakarta is thriving.

“The Betawi culture now has a new face as it has been adopted by the industry and treated as a commodity,” she said. Yasmine said that as a result of the commodification, people of other ethnic groups in Jakarta had adopted it.

There has never been a shortage of television personalities adopting Betawi dialects even though they have different ethnic backgrounds. The majority of people in the city eat traditional cuisine like nasi uduk (rice cooked with coconut milk), kerak telor (Betawi omelet) and asinan (vegetables in sweet and sour sauce), she said.

The proliferation of Betawi culture started in the 1970s and Jakartans have former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin to thank for this.

“The year 1975 was the turning point for Betawi culture as it was the year Ali Sadikin decided to make Betawi short-hand for Jakarta,” Yasmine added.

After Ali Sadikin, or affectionately called Bang Ali, improved the stature of Betawi culture, components of the formerly marginalized Betawi culture such as Ondel-ondel (oversized Betawi puppets), Lenong (traditional comedy show) and Gambang Rancak (traditional music rehashing local folklore), gained popularity.

“In spite of modernization, the culture is now being practiced by those who are of differing ethnicity and is being treated as a commodity,” Yasmin said.

However, the growth of Betawi culture is not commensurate with improvements to the standard of living among the majority of native Jakartans.

Chairman of the Betawi Culture Institution, Tatang Hidayat, said as the native culture was adopted by immigrants to the city, natives showed a diminishing interest toward preserving their culture and way of life.

Contradicting Yasmine’s prognostication, Tatang said local Betawi culture was in fact on the brink of extinction. “One indication is that now less and less people come to see traditional performance art and local artists don’t get as many orders as they used to,” Tatang said referring to Gambang Kromong (Betawi music ensemble) and Silat Betawi (martial arts).

Tatang also blamed the proliferation of pop culture for the set back Betawi culture was experiencing. “People booked dangdut singers rather than Gambang Kromong when they have wedding parties.”

Tatang hoped that with the increasing commodification of Betawi culture, native Jakartans could take part in the industry based on their culture. He also criticized the city administration for not doing enough to help develop the local culture.

However, an official with the Jakarta Regional Planning Board, I Made Karma Yoga, said the administration had done enough to preserve the culture.

“In 2007, we passed a bylaw on the development of Betawi culture. Two years earlier, we passed a bylaw on the expansion of the Betawi culture sanctuary in Setu Babakan in Depok,” Made told the seminar.

He said the administration was now expanding its policy on the preservation of Betawi culture. “What we see is that native themselves lack the motivation and involvement to preserve their own culture,” he said. (map)