Wait For Me in Jakarta
What is it about this city that entrances everyone?
A rather sloppy-looking teenager rubs his eyes from his shabby bed, handling a small Nokia phone that carries a message. His lover. It asks for his confirmation on his arrival later that day, to which he confirms. He is to rendezvous in Jakarta that same day, and we see him leap forwards to start the morning and rush towards Stasiun Tugu Yogyakarta.
With his shaggy hair and generic red flannel, the young man slides comfortably to the edge of his train seat, leaning against the window. He procures a Walkman from his brown faux leather backpack, wrapped haphazardly in black earphones. The earphones plunge him into another world as the hours slip away, the Sun dipping as the train finally skids into Stasiun Pasar Senen. He walks out and roams the streets of Jakarta, Nokia in hand.
And with that, the words “Sheila on 7” appear on PRJ’s large screens, replacing the previous travel video. The crowd cheers amongst the red glow of the stadium, a white sheet covering the stage that the band is yet to appear on. It is the “Tunggu Aku Di Jakarta” concert, Sheila on 7’s grand return after a pandemic-related absence, and the audience is massive. The choice of concert name reflects not only their iconic song, but also the concert’s location in Jakarta, Indonesia’s sprawling and messy capital. A fitting and nostalgic choice for the Jogjakarta-based band that lived in an era where everything that was anything was in Jakarta, and it took a struggle to head out there.
And that was exactly the point that short concert intro video was trying to bring home: it was a chore to head to Jakarta, but because it was Jakarta, it was worth it.
I may not be a Jogja-based youth smitten with a crush in Jakarta (I’m very happy to keep things localized in good ole bdg, thank you very much), but I feel that it has a certain charm that cannot be ignored and that I must enunciate.
The City of Everything
Jakarta is New York, it’s LA, it’s Washington DC all rolled into one. It is the commercial hub of Indonesia. It is the political hub of Indonesia. It is the entertainment hub of Indonesia. So because of that, it faces so much strain. — Wall Street Journal
Since back in the day, everything that was anything in Indonesia was in Jakarta. It’s Indonesia’s modern day Rome for our modern day Roman Empire. And as the WSJ video above explains, that’s why it faces so much strain.
As somewhat of a country bumpkin raised mostly in (arguably) rural areas, from the outskirts of Bandung to Pameungpeuk to Amherst to Lexington, I’ve always found big cities quite interesting because everything is there. And I only ever realized the scale of Jakarta on my first solotrip there during highschool. It was a humbling experience, spending my precious savings on getting there and riding a Gojek from Gambir to Simpang Susun Semanggi, as I stared in awe at Sudirman’s towering buildings, embellished with names of big money and big prestige. I knew I had to go back again.
Also, that first solotrip turned out to have one of my greatest returns on investment, as that was the first time I met Alifia Ilmi, who has colored my life path til this day (IISMA, YLI, etc.). Meeting her back then as a highschool kid was a crazy revelation, as I told my friend Rajji at the time, as she gave off the impression that she was better than me in virtually every aspect — paralleling with Jakarta’s impression on Bandung from the perspective of a local such as I. And that just goes to show you, again, that everything that is anything is out there. Out in the capital.
I have gone on countless trips to Jakarta since then, many alone and many also with comrades, and I have since familiarized myself with the entirely different world of contrasts that it holds. While I have waxed about New York City and it’s unparalleled diversity that Jakarta cannot match, I think that the inherent charm within Jakarta’s messiness is how close to home it is. Unlike NYC, it is filled with my people. We speak the same language, wear the same clothes, watch the same commercials, listen to the same songs, and most likely have the same roots linked to some middle-of-nowhere nostalgia-inducing kampung. It’s as if I know these people.
And that’s what makes their struggles feel so real. And that’s what makes its inequality so jarring. And that’s what makes its roads so tough to walk through. And that’s what makes its roads so touching to walk through. And that’s what makes its roads so thought-provoking to walk through. And that’s what makes my empathy soar.
Jakarta is the place to be. Being there brings you access to so many opportunities, so many people, so many things going on. I have found myself on several occasions joining high-level policy discussions for free and open to public around last year’s ASEAN Summit as well as several events from the the U.S. Embassy’s American Center and I couldn’t help but think how fast I could accelerate simply if I was in Jakarta.
It’s the harbor of dreams, after all.
Harbor of Dreams
Tunggulah aku di Jakartamu
Tempat labuhan semua mimpiku
Translation: “Wait for me in Jakarta,” Duta sings Erros’ lyrics longingly with the peppy accompaniment of guitar twangs, “The harbor of all my dreams.”
Back in July 2022, two solotrips to and around Jakarta cemented its place in my personal development: the first for a US Visa application and the second basically looking for reasons to go back and explore myself. Whatever the reason, seeing things from the lens of the pedestrian, whether it be the life of privilege walking around SCBD or the life at the grassroots within Manggarai’s cluttered alleyways and station, has hammered in an intuitive gut understanding of its people — and these people represent my people.
To fully immerse myself in the city, I challenged myself to exlusively use public transportation and walking to get around in nearly all of my subsequent solotrips to Jakarta outside of exceptional cases. And this has repeatedly resulted in monumental reflections and writings, such as one on professional development, one on the life of children on the street, one on balancing purposes, and even more. My second July ’22 trip even inspired me to write a whole 4500-word reflection piece about Jakarta for my crush to read (yes I’m weird).
I may not recall all of my trips there and what exactly each of them were for, but my commitment to sticking to my feet on the streets have lead me to endure walks and thinking processes that have brought upon valuable processes in the journey to my dreams — whatever that means. And while Jakarta may not be the final harbor of these dreams, it sure as heck is one that I cannot ignore, in my past or even in the future.
Come at Any Cost!
My February solotrip to Jakarta was somewhat of a dull, tiring, blur. It reminded me that Jakarta isn’t all roses and lessons and fun little strolls to teach naive visitors about life. Jakarta is the real world. And it’s fatigue has real consequences.
Upon meeting my friend Kang Elfan at a random MRT station on that February trip, he told me, “Overall, it’s arguable whether it’s even financially worth it to work here. But you’ve gotta try to live the experience. That’s something you can’t get anywhere else.”
I have to agree. And I have to prepare for that fatigue.
Last summer, nearly all of my friends were in the greater Jakarta area for summer internships, and I can personally attest to the tacit knowledge they have developed aside from the actual internship gains. And that’s something that I still lack and feel that I need to become somebody who truly understands the Indonesian experience. I have enough friends out there to know second-hand, yes. But that may not be enough.
My last Jakarta trip has highlighted this same finding.
From a YLI Gathering, to almost dying in a motorbike-truck accident at an obscure dark street while looking for the bus stop, to crying in the bus due to intrusive thoughts after the fact, to being taken around by Ilham Nugraha, to an intense 1o1 session with Kak Bagoes, to seeing off Kahfi at the airport, it is hard to articulate everything packed within those three days. But I understand that a future here may be quite imminent and quite crucial — if I truly want to play my unique role that God seems to be hinting me towards.
I’ll end with Kak Bagoes’ One Piece reference that he repeats to no end to all of his mentees, which coincides quite well with the Sheila on 7 song that opened this piece, “Pokoknya, aku tunggu kalian semua di sini, di negeri Wano!”
So to all roads of exploration available to me, to all people of many walks I have yet to meet, to all smiles and tears waiting to be created, to all the locals in their high towers or lowly slums, and to all my dreams I may strive to bring into fruition, I say, “Tunggu aku di Jakarta.”
