Indonesians weigh perils of life in Jakarta 

JAKARTA, Indonesia (MNTV) – Greater Jakarta has 42 million residents, ahead of Dhaka with 37 million and Tokyo with 33 million, according to a study by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs published in November. 

The findings reflect updated U.N. methodology measuring metropolitan areas rather than just administrative city limits, reports South China Morning Post.

“The ‘largest population’ refers to the metropolitan area of Jabodetabekpunjur,” Elisa Sutanudjaja, executive director of the Rujak Centre for Urban Studies in Jakarta, told This Week in Asia. 

She was referring to a term that encompasses Jakarta and its satellite cities – Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi – as well as parts of the Puncak region and neighboring Cianjur regency.

The Jakarta Special Capital Region alone – the urban core – has about 11 million people.

“Whether it is first or second in terms of population, the challenges remain the same,” Sutanudjaja said, pointing to the city’s long-standing systemic problems like flooding and poor water management.

In January, Jakarta was hit by widespread flooding due to heavy rains during the annual wet season. Authorities have resorted to weather manipulation to reduce rainfall. The Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency dispersed salt and quicklime into clouds to accelerate the condensation process from Jan. 16 and said it would extend the measures until mid-February.

According to Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency, illegal groundwater extraction also means that Jakarta, like Venice in Italy and other cities, is sinking. By 2050, some 25% of the city could be under water, the agency warned.

It is not just rainfall that Jakarta’s residents fear – the dry season, typically from March to September, as well as pollution, also pose major challenges for them.

In 2021, residents filed a lawsuit against the central administration, the president and several government ministers over the city’s heavy pollution. A court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, saying that the central government had been negligent in tackling the city’s poor air quality.

However, for some living and working in Jakarta, little appeared to have changed for the better in recent years. “The weather in Jakarta is extreme and, when it is the dry season, the heat is unbearable. The heat makes the pollution worse, and breathing is difficult. It is so much worse than in other cities,” Rama said. “It is like you are burning from the inside out.”

In addition to rain, flooding, heatwaves and poor air quality, Jakarta also faces problems in public transport, affordable housing and jobs, according to Sutanudjaja.

Tough job market

While Indonesia had an unemployment rate of 4.74% as of November 2025, Jakarta’s jobless level was higher at 6.31% in the same period, according to official data.

Amat, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, works as a “silver man” in the capital due to few job opportunities. Every morning, he covers his body with coconut oil and silver paint and stands in Jakarta’s Chinatown, where he solicits donations from passers-by. “I’m forced to do this because of economic need,” said Amat, a father of six children aged between five and 18.

Originally from Bumiayu in Central Java, Amat moved to Jakarta believing that it would be easier to find employment in the big city. “I worked for a few years as a rubbish collector, but I got sacked for not working fast enough,” he said. “A few months ago, a friend of mine, who is a ‘silver man’, asked me to join him. There was no other work, so I did it.”

Amat, 52, said job opportunities were scarce in Jakarta, particularly as he did not graduate from high school. “But I don’t mind being a silver man as long as I can make enough money for my children to eat every day,” he said.