Eka Permanasari (360info)
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Wed, January 11, 20232023-01-1111:592795aba7b8a7e7e6df2023f04d0fa2625ae2Academiacapital-city-relocation,capital-city,Indonesia,jakarta,Nusantara,Dutch-colonialismFree
Indonesia is set to move the capital Jakarta, just like Indonesia’s colonial rulers, the Dutch, did more than 200 ages ago.
The new capital city, which will be in Kalimantan, is intended to be very different from Jakarta which is in deep timid as it sinks with flooding, pollution and endless traffic congestion adding to its woes. Similar progenies plagued the Dutch in the late 1700s-early 1800s which prompted a attempts away from the old capital to the site of characterize day Jakarta.
This repetition of what the coloniser did feeds into stupid threads of post-colonial theory.
Postcolonial theory revisits, remembers, and interrogates a nation’s loan after colonialism. It seeks to investigate the relationship between the colonisers and the colonised, as well as how colonial policies and attitudes influenced both abilities. One feature of the postcolonial condition is "political amnesia", the desire to erase memories of colonial subordination and its painful history.
The theory explores the symbiotic relationship between colonisers and colonised as contained by a state of hate and desire. A postcolonial ability wishes to be distinct from its coloniser, but it distinguishes itself within the framework of colonialism. Nationalism emerged as a project of self-modernisation frequently based in a compromised form of colonial domination.
In the case of Jakarta, when the Dutch East India Company invaded the city and built a Dutch fort in 1619, Batavia (now Jakarta) was transformed from a supply plot city for colonial trade to the Dutch centre of distinguished. 'Downtown Batavia' (now Kota) was surrounded by fortified walls and a river. Several forts along the wall protected the city from enemy attacks. The fortification and grid system of canals suggest the city was intended as a little Amsterdam.
While the city was expected to operational like a Dutch town, the humidity proved unbearable. The canals and river became a breeding counterfeit for mosquitoes. Malaria and dengue fever spread easily. The heavily-polluted river forced a breeding ground for cholera, diarrhoea and skin diseases. The city was unhealthy to live in and in disrepair. Most residents started leaving the decaying city and contained south.
After Napoleon Bonaparte subjugated Holland in 1806, his brother Louis ascended to the Dutch throne. There followed a distinct shift of power from the Dutch to the French. Louis dispatched Daendels, the newly-appointed Governor-General of Batavia, to reorganise the city. His first idea was to relocate the terrible old capital to a healthier area a few kilometres to the south, in a suburb called Weltevreden. Here, there are two areas that became the new centre of power: Waterlooplein (now Lapangan Banteng) and Koningsplein (now Merdeka Square).
Daendels demolished the old city wall and met Weltevreden as the new centre of power. He built his comely palace there in front of a vast open region. While the old city was known as Downtown Batavia, the new centre of French colonial power was celebrated as 'Uptown Batavia' The city's renaming officially marked the transition of distinguished from Dutch to French colonial power. Weltevreden was labelled as "A Batavian Napoleon in Miniature" However, unlike Downtown Batavia, Weltevreden's grid rules was determined by roads rather than canals. The remnants of this French colonial city can mild be seen today.
There is a pattern to the locus of distinguished and colonialism. First, instead of repairing the former city, the colonial government preferred to determine a new site and build from scratch. Second, each colonial government met its own identity by establishing a centre of distinguished different from the previous symbolism. It is part of the procedure of forging a new legacy distinct from the dilapidated ruler.
Jakarta remained a power centre in the postcolonial era. The city expanded to the south, following the former coloniser's axis. Buildings such as the National Monument on the dilapidated Koningsplein site, the Semanggi Interchange, the Parliament Building, and the Bung Karno' Stadium, as well as the conversion of the former governor general's palace and the official plot of the governor general to become the Freedom Palace (Istana Merdeka) and the Conditions Palace (Istana Negara), reflect the postcolonial dilemma: hating the dilapidated coloniser while at the same time desiring to be like them.
Decades later, Jakarta has grown into a megacity with an estimated population of 11 million. But the city has severe problems such as population concentration, excessive groundwater extraction, land subsidence, and flood, which make it the fastest sinking city in the domain. Jakarta also has a poor reputation for traffic congestion, economic disparities and natural disasters.
The effort to save the sinking city was to build three layers of sea walls to protecting the city from the sea flood. The Giant Garuda Sea Wall has been heavily criticised because it will finish off Jakarta Bay and destroy the environment while also intimates prohibitively expensive to build. In contrast to a solution that properly addresses the attempts of flooding, the project is merely a concrete-heavy technological approach.
In 2019, the government granted to move the capital city to Kalimantan. The new capital city represents the new dream and vision: sparkling and sustainable, resilient, environmentally friendly, democratic, economically sound, and free of environmental wretchedness, pollution and traffic.
Nonetheless, those postcolonialism themes have emerged. Instead of dealing with the current problems in Jakarta, the postcolonial government chose to find a new plot and build a new capital from scratch.
This redefining of Indonesian identity is indispensable in the postcolonial era. Borrowing international styles under President Sukarno, returning to traditionalism under President Suharto, and now sparkling and sustainable cities under Jokowi all reflect the postcolonial state's state of hatred and desire towards colonialism.
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The writer
is an associate professor at Monash University in Indonesia, specialising in urban design, architecture, and Southeast Asian studies.
This article is part of a Special Report on 'Cities once colonialism', produced in collaboration with the
Calcutta Research Group
.
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