Market Watch | INDONESIA Research Institute The Two Faces of Jakarta, Park, Kyung-suh _ Senior Principal Researcher, POSCO Research Institute Shopping Mall Heaven (
[email protected]) When visiting Jakarta, Indonesia, for the first time, you might be confused by the two totally different faces of the city. If you are used to clean interna- tional airports and fast immigration processing, you may be disappointed by the slow entry pro- cess and aging facilities at Jakarta’s Soekarno–Hat- ta International Airport. When you add the city’s sultry weather and exhaust fumes, your first im- pression of the city may not be positive. This disappointment, however, may turn to amazement once you see the magnificent, splen- did night scene in downtown Jakarta. You will be surprised once more at the kind staff and well- managed facilities at your hotel. However, this is where the illusion of Jakarta ends. In the morning, you look down at the residen- tial streets and find that the scene you saw last night is not there. Just beyond the hotel swimming pool, you see slums and streets filled with cars and motorcycles. The narrow roads with neither center lines nor traffic lights are crowded with mo- torcycles that dart in and out of the long lines of cars. Just as you are about to say to yourself, “This is the real Jakarta,” your eyes will widen once more at the sight of the city’s large shopping malls. Ten-plus Large Malls in Downtown Jakarta Jakarta is becoming known as a shopper’s para- dise.