Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Located on the northwest coast of the Java Island, it has an area of 661.52 km² and an official population of 8,389,443 (2000). Jakarta currently is the eleventh largest city in the world. Its metropolitan area is called Jabodetabek and contains more than 23 million people, and is part of an even larger Jakarta- Bandung megalopolis.

In 1950, once independence was secured, Jakarta was once again made the national capital. Indonesia's founding president, Sukarno, envisaged Jakarta as a great international city. He instigated large government-funded projects undertaken with openly nationalistic and modernist architecture. Projects in Jakarta included a clover-leaf highway, a major boulevard (Jalan Sudirman), monuments such as The National Monument, major hotels, and a new parliament building.

In 1966, Jakarta was declared a "special capital city district" (daerah khusus ibukota ), thus gaining a status approximately equivalent to that of a state or province. Lieutenant General Ali Sadikin served as Governor from this time to 1977; he rehabilitated roads and bridges, encouraged the arts, built several hospitals, and a large number of new schools. He also cleared out slum dwellers for new development projects—some for the benefit of the Suharto family — and tried to eliminate rickshaws and ban street vendors. He began control of migration to the city in order to stem the overcrowding and poverty. Land redistribution, structural adjustment, and foreign investment contributed to a real estate boom which changed the face of the city. The boom ended with the 1997/98 East Asian Economic crisis putting Jakarta at the center of violence, protest, and political maneuvering. Long-time president, Suharto , began to lose his grip on power. Tensions reached a peak in May 1998, when four students were shot dead at Trisakti University by security forces; four days of riots ensued resulting in the loss of an estimated 1,200 lives and 6,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. Suharto resigned as president, and Jakarta has remained the focal point of democratic change in Indonesia

As the economic and political capital of Indonesia, Jakarta attracts many foreign as well as domestic immigrants. As a result, Jakarta has a decidedly cosmopolitan flavor and a diverse culture.

Officially, Jakarta is not a city but a province with special status as the capital of Indonesia. It is administered much as any other Indonesian province. For example, Jakarta has a governor (instead of a mayor), and is divided into several sub-regions with their own administrative systems. Jakarta, as a province, is divided into five cities (kota) (formerly municipality) each headed by a mayor and one regency (kabupaten) headed by a regent . In August 2007, Jakarta held its first ever election to pick a governor, which was won by Fauzi Bowo. The city's governors have previously been appointed by local parliament. The poll is part of a country-wide decentralization drive allowing for direct local elections in several areas.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakarta. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License