I Said It First

Or did I?

When, last month, I posted my futuristic piece on Jakarta some hundred years hence, I really didn't expect some of my predictions to (have) come through so quickly.

I didn't know, for example, that there is an underwater restaurant in the Maldives, which was actually built fairly locally - in Singapore. (Pictures here.)

Nor did I expect that my suggestion that the seawall defences be improved to be taken up so quickly by hydrologists.

Higher than usual tides flooded parts of North Jakarta's Muara Angke district in mid-June, inundating houses and destroying the existing retention wall there.

"Climate change has prompted unpredictable cyclones that, when combined with regular tides, create surges of waves," naval hydrologist Lt. Col. Rosyid said on the sidelines of a seminar. "Like it or not, only higher sea walls combined with a proper drainage system could protect waterfront areas from such a threat."

The State Ministry for the Environment has also warned that rising sea levels caused by global warming could put parts of the city underwater by 2050. The ministry's report predicted world temperatures would rise by up to four degrees Celsius and sea levels would rise by between 18 cm and 58 cm by 2100.

Well, Jakartass predicts that the north coast of Jakarta will be under a lot more water than an extra 58 centimetres in one hundred years time. Let me know if I'm right, will you?

What I also predicted and got only slightly wrong was that Jakarta would be a megacity with a mega name.

Today, in the Post, you can read the following:

The House of Representatives yesterday endorsed the Jakarta Administrative Law which tasks the government with overseeing the management of integrated spatial planning in Greater Jakarta.

Greater Jakarta is defined as Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi, Punjak and Cianjur, an incorporated area to be known as Jabodetabekpunjur.

And what did I say?

Jabadebekoboggertangarpong, (abb. Japong), (was) once variously known as Jakarta, Batavia, Depok, Bekasi, Bogor, Tangerang and Serpong.

So I missed out Cianjur, which is not so far from Bogor to the south, but they have missed out Serpong, some 40 kilometres to the east, where Jakarta's Highland Gathering is held annually.

Puncak, incidentally, is the highland location of the weekend retreats of those businessfolk and politicians guilty of the blinkered short-termism which has seen housing developments built on water catchment areas, thus causing much of severe planning problems, as well as the potable water shortages, which afflict the mega mess that is present day Jakarta.

(For readers interested in Jakarta's urban woes and efforts to improve the lives of its citizens, I heartily recommend a blog new to me by Deden Rukmana, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at Savannah State University, Savannah GA 31404 USA. Indonesia Urban Studies aims to "stimulate discussion on any urban problem in Indonesia.")

Labels: environment, Jakarta, social psychology