Jakarta

Kota, Sendu Kelapa and other neighborhoods:

The old city of Batavia called Kota is the oldest and best kept memory of Dutch Colonial times. None of the buildings of either the Hindustan era nor Portuguese time are still standing. Here once stood the castle the Batavia. The center of this district is Taman Fatahillah with its Jakarta Historical Museum.

This was in Colonial times the City Hall of Batavia and is one of the most impressive Dutch remains of Indonesia built in 1627. It also served as a state prison. Other attractions are the most charming leftover the chicken bridge, the Batavia café, the Cannon si Jagur (the old Portuguese cannon), Wayang museum and the Gereja Sion, the oldest remaining (Portuguese) church from 1695. Just north of Kuta is the old harbor district Sunda Kelapa with its beautiful old brightly colored pinisi boats. The houses are made of wood and you can walk across various wooden "toll" transitions. Also here is the old fish market (pasar Ikan). 

Other attractions of Jakarta are the national museum (perhaps the most popular museum in the country), the maritime museum and the national monument (Monas). Central Jakarta has the best places to shop. If you are interested in Dutch colonial buildings, it is best to go to "Lapangan Banteng" (the old Dutch district Weltevreden) where the Dutch built a new city district in the 19th century.

Here you can admire a Catholic church, the Istiqlal mosque, the courthouse (Mahkamah Agung), the building of Finance, the Gedung Pancasila (the building of the Dutch commander) and the Emanuel church.

The city was attacked numerous times in the following years. Especially from the west by the Banten and from the east by Mataram. These were all mercilessly repulsed. The Dutch started with the development of the city with new houses, buildings for storage and in 1646 a typical Dutch canal system was initiated in the marshy area. In 1656, all Javanese, as a result of hostilities with Bantam, had to settle outside the walls.

In 1659 temporary peace was concluded with Bantam and the city could grow. More and more country houses and harbours appeared. Because the city attracted many people, various suburbs arose outside the city walls. Gradually the soil around Batavia was brought into cultivation. Especially the Chinese started with the cultivation of sugar cane. In 1740 a battle between the Dutch and Chinese followed after several incidents. 5000 Chinese people were slaughtered. In the eighteenth century, Batavia was increasingly hit by epidemics and those who could afford it, moved to higher parts. Eventually, the old city would finally be dismantled around 1810. At the end of the nineteenth century, due to technical progress, the city changed greatly.

Thanks to the construction of a large port in Tjandjong Priok, Batavia became the engine of the colony. Schools, hospitals, factories, offices of trade firms and the electric tram were founded and built around the city around 1900. An equal step was the arrival of Dutch people, the so-called totoks, as a result of which society became more and more like that of a Dutch city. Especially in the years 1920-1940 it went fast, the population increased considerably, also because of the influx from the countryside. New neighborhoods for the poorer Indonesians were laid out, as well as residential areas such as Menteng and Gondangdia.

The Old Batavia is gone

Just before WW2 about 50,000 Europeans were living there. The old Batavia with its canals and fortification walls, which had previously been abandoned for the healthier and new part “Weltevreden”, experienced a new revival when the trading companies returned there. The rapid rise of the car, much faster than in the Netherlands, caused the roads to be asphalted, making the streets no longer dusty and muddy. In a very short period, the city changed its appearance, with the VOC shipyard, the VOC warehouses, the mansions and the old town hall being maintained. 

In 1942, during WW2 Batavia was occupied by the Japanese who immediately called the city Jakarta again. After the war, the Dutch returned and the local Republicans withdrew to Yoghakarta and made their capital there. In the years after the war, the city grew into a partly modern metropolis with all the pros and cons of it. The political unrest that spread from the capital to Java and the rest of the country also grew. In 1998 the tanks drove through the streets and for three days war was conducted between the insurgents on the one hand and the army on the other. No less than 6,000 buildings were damaged and 1200 people lost their lives.

Especially the Chinese minority had to pay for it - Chinatown was in ruins. Today, the city is threatened by the rising water that often floods Jakarta. In consultation with the former colonizer, the Netherlands, they are discussing how to deal with this very important problem.

In 2016, another terrorist attack took place in Jakarta, where eight people died. Five terrorists attacked a café and a police station in the center of Jakarta. According to the police, two men blew themselves up. Three attackers were killed during a gunshot with the police. A Dutchman was also seriously injured in the attack. He is an employee of the UN in the Indonesian capital.