Jakarta: History

Pre-20th-Century History

Jakarta's earliest history is centred around the port of Sunda Kelapa in the Kota district of present-day Jakarta. A bustling port of the Pajajaran dynasty, it was the last Hindu kingdom of West Java when the Portuguese arrived in 1522. The Portuguese had set up in the region to take advantage of the spice trade, but their stay was brief; in 1527 they were driven out by Muslim saint and leader Sunan Gunungjati, who established a fiefdom in the Banten sultanate. He renamed the city Jayakarta, meaning 'victorious city', and by the early 17th century both Dutch and English merchants had set up shop in the area. The Europeans jostled for control, exploiting the intrigue between local leaders and in 1618 a force of Jayakartans and Brits attacked the fortress of the Dutch Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC). Banten, annoyed at the actions of his vassal Jayakartans, intervened. The Dutch celebrated the reprieve and renamed their fortress Batavia. A few months later, they stormed the town, razing it completely. Their fort was extended and soon became a walled town, and, eventually, the capital of the Dutch East Indies. Several local forces mounted disastrous attacks on the Dutch over the next decade, but the fort was never really threatened.

Over the next hundred years, Indonesians and Chinese began flocking to the now-prosperous town. The walled Batavia grew to such an extent that strain was becoming apparent. Deportations commenced, and ethnic gangs began creating unrest in Batavia's outposts. In October 1740 the government ordered a search of Chinese premises. This prompted a terrible massacre of 5000 Chinese by Batavia's Dutch citizens. A year later Chinese residents were moved to an area outside the walled city, and soon after, many other residents - discouraged by 45 years of epidemic disease in Batavia - also relocated. The city began to spread. For the next 200 years, until the end of WWII, the Dutch oversaw a growing network of suburbs.

Modern History

Dutch colonial rule came to an end when the Japanese took Java in WWII. At the conclusion of the war, nationalist leader Soekarno - with tacit Japanese backing - declared the Republic of Indonesia. However, the Dutch paid no attention and returned to their old colony. Trouble soon broke out and the Dutch, aided by a large British force, fought hard to retain control. On 10 November 1945 (now called 'Heroes Day') the British launched a bloody attack, killing thousands of Indonesians. Thousands more fled to the countryside, though numerous republican forces continued fighting for three weeks. As world opinion began turning towards the local republicans, the British scooted out, leaving 55,000 Dutch troops to keep the peace. Indonesian republicans were jailed and cities were bombed. Up in Suluwesi a Dutch officer reportedly murdered 40,000 Indonesians in an attempt to stabilise the area. In Jakarta there was relatively little trouble, though Soekarno and his deputy Hatta had to move their capital to Yogyakarta to avoid a confrontation with the Dutch. In November 1946 the Dutch recognised the Republican government, but in 1947 they mounted a huge offensive, causing the UN to step in. The Republicans were also on the defensive against internal opposition from the communist PKI. But when the Dutch, in contravention of a UN directive, launched a huge assault on the Indonesians in 1948, massive international condemnation forced their withdrawal. On 27 December 1949, power was officially handed to the Republicans.

In 1957, after a rudderless period of parliamentary democracy, Soekarno overthrew the parliament, declared martial law, and initiated a more authoritarian style of government, which he dubbed 'Guided Democracy'. Soekarno's usurpation of power drew immediate response: rebellions that broke out in Sumatra and Sulawesi were eventually crushed in 1958. Soekarno's vision of Jakarta was taking shape at the same time. His dream city of grand structures glorifying the Republic were slowly emerging. As his power was being whittled away from within the military, his grand plan for the capital was passed to Lieutenant General Ali Sadikin, who dramatically improved infrastructure at the expense of the city's huge slum dwellers. The power-struggle between Soekarno and other senior military officials boiled over in 1965 with bloody conflicts on the streets of Jakarta. It's worth a look at Peter Weir's 1982 film The Year of Living Dangerously for an evocative glimpse into this period. Emerging from the killings to seize control was Soeharto, a mid-level general and superb tactician.

After he assumed control, Soeharto's government was marked by large scale corruption and barely-disguised nepotism. During the Asian economic meltdown of the late 1990s, the Indonesian economy was hit harder than most. Food shortages and price rises implemented under the IMF's economic bailout package sparked anti-government demonstrations, which peaked in May 1998 after six students were shot dead by the army. More than 500 people died in Jakarta in the ensuing riots, and Soeharto eventually stood down on 21 May. Attacks on Indonesia's Chinese population were particularly fierce, and thousands of Chinese fled the country. In accordance with Indonesia's constitution, Soeharto was replaced by his (none-too-popular) vice-president, B.J. Habibie.

Habibie dabbled his toes in the waters of democracy with a half-hearted probe into Soeharto's comings and goings, a promise of economic reforms, and an announcement of independence or autonomy for the beleaguered East Timorese. Many of these reforms were continued and given more strength by Abdurrahman Wahid, but opposition forces and Indonesian students still wanted more.

Recent History

Indonesia might be vast and Jakarta a long way from the powder-kegs of East Timor, Aceh and West Papua, but ripples from the outlying areas usually find their way to Jakarta in some way or another. Jakarta is at the epicentre of a program of renewal that straddles areas of the economy, the political system and society at large. Managing that renewal - and keeping a lid on spiralling ethnic and religious violence - is the nation's biggest challenge - a challenge it occasionally cannot meet, as indicated by the bombing of an international hotel in August 2003 in which 18 people died, and a similar attack on the Australian embassy the following year that killed nine.

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