[katana]

Jakarta probably ranks only behind Port au Prince as the worst place I ever spent any time. I was seriously warned not to roll down the window in a stifling taxi, or especially place my arm outside, as there were motorbike gangs who would ride alongside and clip off watches and fingers (for the rings) with chain cutters.

However, I'm sure the other nasty part of Jakarta, the top to bottom corruption needed to do business (I always assigned the market to our Singapore partners since they could deal with it once removed) in Indonesia will transfer completely intact to the new capital.

[dinodino]

Yes, JKT is a sh*thole. I always tried to spend as little time there as possible.

[kabar]

Lived two years in Jakarta 1973-75. Things must have changed dramatically for the worse.

Borneo (Kalimantan) sounds like a strange choice. It is the 3rd largest island in the world, but lacking in infrastructure. Brunei and Malaysia share part of the island. It will be interesting to see if this is adopted. Massive capital investment is needed. Sounds like another Abuja or Brasilia, neither of which has proven successful.

[NewHampshireDuo]

I was supposed to make an overnight “courtesy” trip to Jakarta back in the ‘70s. Then, the big thing Jakarta was known for was almost immediate dysentery upon arrival. Fortunately, our plane from Singapore developed a serious problem and had to return to Singapore. Spent the rest of the day in the hotel bar and then headed back to Tokyo.