The Future Of Jakarta

Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia has suffered many problems for decades. Recent years have seen increasing concern about some problems in Jakarta. The major problems are traffic congestion, flooding, waste disposal and ensuring a supply of clean water to Jakarta’s inhabitants. These problems are interconnected. Jakarta is the best destination for Indonesians to get a better life, but this can result in traffic jams because of the overpopulation. It appears that the people of Jakarta have a bad attitude towards garbage disposal, and this contributes to the problem of flooding.
Even though Jakarta has many problems, some people choose to live here and some have no other choices. As Jakarta develops, the problems are also getting bigger. They have to be eliminated as soon as possible to create a better future for Jakarta. Jakarta is the capital and largest city in Indonesia. Located on the northwest coast of Java, it is the most populous city in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia. The official metropolitan area, known as Jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi), is the second largest in the world. By this definition, I understand that Jakarta is the focus of Indonesia.
Jakarta is a center of economic, cultural, education and political that can enable Jakarta to develop. We also know that Jakarta has one of the largest populations in the world. This is one of the factors of the ever-increasing major problems. This essay has been divided into three parts. The first part deals with the overpopulation in Jakarta. The second part looks at the traffic jam and flooding that are the major problems of Jakarta. The third part of this essay considers the positive things that are developing in Jakarta as a metropolitan city.

Finally, I will conclude my ideas. These help us to the purpose of this essay which is deciding to live in Jakarta in 2050 or not. According to Jakarta Post (Jakarta’s growing numbers, 2010), Jakarta’s population is increasing at an alarming level. According to the recent national census, the capital city is inhabited by nearly 9. 6 million people. The city’s population is 4 percent of the country’s total population of 237. 6 million people. With the new figures, we can see that the city’s population has grown 4. 4 percent over the last 10 years, up from 8. 3 million in 2000.
Jakarta is a busy, overcrowded city with traffic chaos every day and slums in many areas. Currently, less than 10 percent of the city is dedicated to open spaces. We can easily guess that urbanization is the biggest factor of population growth in Jakarta because Jakarta attracts people with its advantages. For example, Young farmers prefer to leave their hometowns to work in the city due to a lack of government incentives in the agricultural sector, while people with higher education prefer to work in Jakarta because Jakarta has the best education and job opportunities than other provinces.
The problem can be solved by reducing disparities between Jakarta and other provinces. One of the major problems in Jakarta is traffic jams. Nowadays the traffic jams become worse it is difficult to go anywhere without delay. Since the modern era, everybody needs transportation to live and we cannot separate transportation and traffic. As Balie (2009) points out, statistic show total vehicles in Jakarta now are about 4,9 million, of which 2,8 million have two wheels and 2,1 million have four wheels. We almost see traffic chaos every time especially at works and school time which is at 7 am and 6 pm.
There are some factors that cause traffic jams. The first one is too much private transportation such as cars and motorcycles. We can get motorcycle easily with only 1 million rupiah in Jakarta. People think that using public transportation may lose their privacy and uncomfortable. The second one is the bad conditions of public transportation. Jakarta has some public transportation such as buses, trains, the busway system, taxis and others, but in general it is not in a good condition so people do not want to use it. There is no definite schedule for Transjakarta or trains and both are very crowded.
There are many accidents with trains or buses in Jakarta so it is unsafe too. That is why people choose private transportation. Finally, there is frequent violation of traffic regulations. People tend to break the rules because they just think about themselves, and they do not think about others. For example, if students are late for school, they will break the rules or regulations by riding fast even though it is in traffic. On the other hand, the police can be bribed easily so people will repeat their mistakes again and again. Flooding is also a major problem in Jakarta. This occurs in Jakarta repeatedly every rainy season.
Jakarta was built below sea-level. The land is below the water, creating a city that is very familiar with the problems of flooding. The government still cannot resolve that problem until now. There are some other factors that cause floods in Jakarta. The first one is a lack of awareness of people in Jakarta to obey rules. People in Jakarta appear selfish and they do not care about others. They often litter everywhere and never think about the damage they cause. For example, they throw garbage in the river or irrigation. It makes the river full of garbage and when it is rainy, it will overflow.
In addition, people do not care about their environment in Jakarta. Second reason is natural factors. Heavy rain can cause flooding in Jakarta. Moreover, almost every area in Jakarta is under water and there is no area for water absorption. Flooding gives many disadvantages such as diseases and destroyed neighborhoods. Many children and adults are affected by malaria and other diseases, which are quite dangerous to their safety. Usually the diseases occur in the slums of Jakarta neighborhood where people do not heed the rules. In contrast, Jakarta is a metropolitan city that offers many advantages.
Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo (as cited in Smith, 2009) said that Jakarta is not only as Indonesia capital city, but also center of economic, culture, and education. At this moment, Jakarta is growing strongly but its population is at the buffer zones. We can see that Jakarta is a good place for trading and manufacturing. There are lots of foreign companies in Jakarta. Jakarta is the most luxurious and busiest city in Indonesia. The other advantages are entertainment. Jakarta has modern office towers, luxury shopping malls, night clubs, restaurants and cafes, theme parks and many more. It is really comfortable and enjoyable to live in Jakarta.
For example, Plaza Indonesia mall offers a theater, luxury cafes and stores that attracts many people to go there. Beside the disadvantages, Jakarta can be a comfortable place to live. It can be concluded that Jakarta as an overpopulated city has some advantages and disadvantages. Jakarta is a beautiful city and it is a good place to live if we know how to live properly there. Besides that, the problems occur every day in Jakarta because it is a busy city. We face traffic chaos every day and flooding every rainy season. The problems are still unsolved by the government and the citizens.
They still put their effort to find the best solutions for Jakarta. In the future, I personally do not want to live in Jakarta if the problems are unsolved. I think Jakarta already has good entertainment and lifestyle but the traffic is too chaotic and the flooding is too dangerous. It is unsafe to live here for a long time with the pollution, diseases, crime, and much more. In 2025 if the government still does not have solutions, Jakarta will be more overpopulated and the traffic will be everywhere. So I would prefer to live in another city that is more comfortable and safe where traffic jams and flooding are not big problems.