S2E29: A view of the cemetery: Why house-hunting in Jakarta is a challenge

May 1, 2025

16:17

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Indonesia’s capital, one of South-east Asia’s most crowded cities, contains 12 million people in a land area of 660 sq km.

Synopsis: Every first Friday of the month, The Straits Times catches up with its foreign correspondents about life and trends in the countries they're based in.

The Straits Times’ Indonesia bureau chief Arlina Arshad has lived in Jakarta for 16 years - and moved five times. What are the lessons that she’s picked up in searching for the right apartment in Indonesia’s capital city?

In this city of contrasts, private-sector developers are on a tearing streak to build high-end condominiums for an expanding middle class. At the same time, graveyards and slums are just round the block from these homes.

And for decades now, the government has strove to resolve the housing and urban development challenge in Jakarta. What plans does the Prabowo administration now have?

Highlights (click/tap above):

0:58 Every move an exciting and chaotic journey

4:03 Drawing the curtains on a graveyard

5:57 Indonesians’ attitudes towards the dead

8:31 Why Jakarta is so crowded

10:48 Fixing the housing challenge

Read Arlina Arshad’s article here: https://str.sg/b9qb

Read Li Xueying’s articles: https://str.sg/iqmR

Follow Li Xueying on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/ip4x

Host: Li Xueying (xueying@sph.com.sg)

Edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis