Kemayoran is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

Central Jakarta Central Jakarta ( id, Jakarta Pusat) is one of the five administrative cities () which form the Special Capital Region of Jakarta. It had 902,973 inhabitants according to the 2010 censusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 1,056,896 at the ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

. It was best known for the former

Kemayoran Airport Kemayoran Airport also spelled Kemajoran Airport, was the principal airport for Jakarta, Indonesia, from 8 July 1940 until 31 March 1985, when it was replaced by Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. During World War II it was used by the Ro ...

. It has been transforming as a new

Central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

. As of 2022, it consists of numerous four and five star hotels, restaurants, premium office towers, hospitals as well as shopping and entertainment centers. Kemayoran is also home to the Jakarta Fair, the largest and longest fair in Southeast Asia that attracts more than 4 million visitors annually. Kemayoran is between

Jalan M.H. Thamrin Jalan M.H. Thamrin or Jalan Thamrin (M.H. Thamrin Road or Thamrin Road) is a major thoroughfare in Jakarta, Indonesia. The road is located at the center of Jakarta, running from the north end of Jalan Jenderal Sudirman at West Flood Canal at the ...

, Ancol Dreamland and the Port of Tanjung Priok. Its proximity between Jakarta's primary central business district, a Southeast Asian tourist hotspot and the one of the busiest port in the world has made Kemayoran a prime real estate for many local and foreign investors. Moreover, Kemayoran is 20 minutes journey from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Kemayoran is serviced by Trans-Java Toll Road, which traverses the island of Java. As of 2022 the government has finished the construction of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) station in Kemayoran with the rest of

by that means.

Sub-district

The district of Kemayoran has eight sub-districts; having the postal/zip/area codes as follows:

History

Even though the area that was known as Batavia stretches from

Tangerang Tangerang ( Sundanese: , ) is a city in the province of Banten, Indonesia. Located on the western border of Jakarta, it is the third largest urban centre in the Greater Jakarta metropolitan area after Jakarta and Bekasi; the sixth largest cit ...

Bogor Bogor ( su, , nl, Buitenzorg) is a city in the West Java province, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide.Sunda Kelapa harbor area. Limitations of this development is partly due to the condition of Batavia being a walled city with fortifications because of many attacks from local Sultanates to seize Batavia, as well as because of the centralized system of the government. Only in 1810 that the city wall of Batavia was demolished, during the reign of Daendels. Meanwhile, rural areas and suburbs of Batavia are still largely 'untouched' with several native villages. These rural areas were later shared to several landlords, one of which is the area that is now known as Kemayoran. The area that was known as Kemayoran was formerly a land owned by the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

commander,

Isaac de l'Ostal de Saint-Martin Isaac de l'Ostal de Saint-Martin (or Lostal) (c. 1629 – 14 April 1696) was a French chevalier, who came in an unknown year from the Béarn to the Dutch Republic. Life In 1657 he left for Batavia, after a training in the Dutch States Army, ...

(ca. 1629–96). At the end of the 17th century, Isaac owned a large area in Java, which includes the area that is now Kemayoran, part of Ancol, Krukut at Tegalangus, and

Cinere Cinere is a district of the city of Depok, West Java, Indonesia. It covers an area of 10.55 km2 and had a population of 107,461 at the 2010 Census; the latest official estimate (for mid 2018) is 144,038. Cinere borders to its east with the Jagakars ...

. Isaac held the title

major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

, which is where the name ''Kemayoran'' come from. The name ''Mayoran'' first appears in Java Government Gazette on February 24, 1816, described as ''"a land close to Weltevreden"''. Later, the area was known as ''Kemayoran'' until now. Until the early 20th century, Kemayoran was still dominated by swamps and paddies with small settlements. Administratively, Kemayoran was a Weekmeester governed by a ''Bek'' ("Defender"). After the

independence of Indonesia The Proclamation of Indonesian Independence ( id, Proklamasi Kemerdekaan Indonesia, or simply ''Proklamasi'') was read at 10:00 on Friday, 17 August 1945 in Jakarta. The declaration marked the start of the diplomatic and armed resistance of t ...

, Kemayoran became part of the Sawah Besar

in Penjaringan, Jakarta Raya. From 1963 to 1968, Kemayoran was part of the district of Senen in Jakarta Raya. Ever since 1968, Kemayoran became a district of

. At first, the inhabitants of Kemayoran were natives from a mixture of several ethnic group from the local kingdom of

Pajajaran Pakuan Pajajaran (or ᮕᮊᮥᮝᮔ᮪ᮕᮏᮏᮛᮔ᮪/ Dayeuh Pakuan/Pakwan or Pajajaran) was the fortified capital city of Sunda Kingdom. The location is roughly corresponds to modern Bogor city in West Java, Indonesia, approximately around t ...

, Demak, Mataram, and several foreign nations who arrived as immigrants. After the Dutch occupied, there are immigrants from China, India, Sumatra, and East Indonesia that are used as workers for the expansion and development of Batavia or to participate in military service against

Sultan Hasanuddin Sultan Hasanuddin (Sultan Hasanuddin Tumenanga Ri Balla Pangkana; (12 January 1631 – 12 June 1670) was the 16th Ruler of The Sultanate of Gowa as Sombaya Ri Gowa XVI from 1653 to 1669. He was proclaimed as Indonesian National Hero on 6 Nove ...

and

Sultan Agung Sultan Anyakrakusuma is known as Sultan Agung ( jv, ꦱꦸꦭ꧀ꦠꦤ꧀ꦲꦒꦸꦁꦲꦢꦶꦥꦿꦧꦸꦲꦚꦏꦿꦏꦸꦱꦸꦩ, Sultan Agung Adi Prabu Anyakrakusuma) was the third Sultan of Mataram in Central Java ruling from 1613 to 1645 ...

of Mataram. Under the government of Daendels, in order to collect funds for the construction of the new

Anyer Anyer, also known as Anjer or Angier, is a coastal town in Banten, formerly West Java, Indonesia, west of Jakarta and south of Merak. A significant coastal town late 18th-century, Anyer faces the Sunda Strait. History The town was a considerab ...

-Panarukan road, some lands were sold to private owners. Generally, the buyers were Dutch, Chinese and Arabic origin. Among them was Roosendaal, H. Hussein Madani (Indo-Dutch), Abdullah, and De Groof. These landlords had the power to regulate land from users, who were indigenous population and

serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...

. After slavery was abolished, these people became farmers who worked for the landlords, then the landlords would determine the taxes to be paid. Until 1903, Batavia moved to a decentralized form of government, which marked the period of modern colonialism of Batavia. Many lands are repaired, canals are constructed, and the city is expanded. Lands are purchased for the expansion of the city, which included the settlements of Kemayoran, Petojo, Jatibaru, Cideng, Kramat, and Tanah Tinggi. These lands were allocated for lower-middle-class people. More affluent citizens such as the Dutch people and other higher class people live closer to the center, such as in the Menteng residential area. Many of the people who resided in Kemayoran were ''Indo'' people (mixed Dutch and Indonesian). Most of them lived in Jl. Garuda. Even after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, many former Dutch soldiers settled in Kemayoran. Around the 1930s, Kemayoran was known as a settlement of the Indo people, giving rise to a new nickname for Kemayoran, ''"Belanda Kemayoran"'' (roughly translates to Kemayoran Netherlands). After Indonesian independence, a wave of urban migrants arrived in Kemayoran and Jakarta from various regions in Indonesia such as

West Java West Java ( id, Jawa Barat, su, ᮏᮝ ᮊᮥᮜᮧᮔ᮪, romanized ''Jawa Kulon'') is a province of Indonesia on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten ...

Central Java Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakart ...

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Kalimantan Kalimantan () is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. In 2019, ...

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara ( id, Nusa Tenggara Timur – NTT; pt, Sonda Oriental) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the nor ...

, and West Nusa Tenggara. Because of this, Kemayoran transformed into a more crowded settlements. In 1935,

was opened. This started to change the economy of Kemayoran from agriculture to service, but many areas of Kemayoran was still a sparsely distributed settlement with vacant land. With the opening of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and the closure of the

, Kemayoran was able to be transformed to the new

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

of Jakarta. Since then, many entertainment centres, hotels and offices were built. The government added numerous infrastructure such as the Light rail and Trans-Java Toll Road, to support the rapid growth of the central business district of Kemayoran.

Kota Baru Bandara Kemayoran

In 1986,

was officially closed. In accordance with the 2015-2019 National Medium-Term Long-Term Development Plan (RPJMN), the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) proposes Kemayoran, to be an area that has the opportunity to become a new city. The area that was formerly an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

was gradually turned into other developments such as Jakarta International Expo and Kotabaru Bandar Kemayoran (both of these were actually located in

Pademangan Pademangan is a port-associated subdistrict of North Jakarta, Indonesia. It stretches from the Sunda Kelapa Harbor on the east to the western area of Tanjung Priok Harbor to the east. Geographically, it is a plain with an average height of 75 cent ...

district in

North Jakarta North Jakarta ( id, Jakarta Utara; bew, Jakarte Belilir) is one of the five administrative cities (''kota administrasi'') which form Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia. North Jakarta is not self-governed and does not have a city counc ...

instead of Kemayoran district in

. Kemayoran Planning and Development Center (PPK) is responsible for development as well as monitoring of the area. Kota Baru has an area of 454 hectares. At present there are several vertical residential designation blocks, office blocks, hospitals, shopping center blocks as well as five and four star hotels. There is also an urban park of 22.3 hectares area which has lake, mangrove area, an amphitheater, viewing towers, jogging tracks, a hanging bridge.

Government and infrastructure

Government agencies with head offices in Kemayoran include the National Search and Rescue Agency.Home
."
Archive
National Search and Rescue Agency. Retrieved on 10 May 2012. "Jl. Angkasa Blok B.15 KAV 2-3 Kemayoran - Jakarta Pusat Jakarta - Indonesia 10720"

Culture

Many ingenious cultures, especially the Betawi culture, flourished in Kemayoran. Among them is the

kroncong Kroncong (pronounced "kronchong"; id, Keroncong, nl, Krontjong) is the name of a ukulele-like instrument and an Indonesian musical style that typically makes use of the kroncong (the sound ' comes from this instrument, so the music is called ...

music, a mixture of indigenous music and Portuguese

fado Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre that can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of fado was ...

music. Kroncong Tugu, a variation of kroncong that originally came from Tugu (about 12 km east of present Jakarta), is a variation that is closely associated with Kemayoran. Because of rapid development Kemayoran has transformed into a modern city itself. Consequently, cultural values such as the Betawi culture is threatened. Gambang music also developed in Kemayoran under the influence of China. The variation of gambang that developed in Kemayoran is often called Gambang Kemayoran and it is not referred to as

Gambang Kromong Gambang kromong is a traditional orchestra of Betawi people which is a blend of gamelan, Western music and Chinese-style pentatonic base tones. Gambang kromong is closely associated with the Chinese Betawi community, especially the Chinese Perana ...

because the kromong (a kind of percussion) is not used. Songs that are popular at the time including ''Onde-onde'', ''Si Jongkong Kopyor'', and ''Kapal Karem''. The Wayang Kulit of Kemayoran originates from Javanese influences. The main difference is that the language used is the

Betawi language Betawi, also known as Betawi Malay, Jakartan Malay, or Batavian Malay is the spoken language of the Betawi people in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is the native language of perhaps 5 million people; a precise number is difficult to determine due to ...

instead of

Javanese language Javanese (, , ; , Aksara Jawa: , Pegon: , IPA: ) is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, Indonesia. There are also pockets of Javanese speakers on the nort ...

. During the colonial era, Wayang Kulit was usually performed at ceremonies such as wedding ceremony, circumcision ceremony, and New Year party. One of the popular artist associated with Kemayoran theater is Benyamin Sueb. Pencak silat, a martial art of the

Betawi people Betawi may refer to: * Betawi people *Betawi language *Betawi cuisine *Betawi mask dance See also * Batavia (disambiguation) * Batavi (disambiguation) Batavi may refer to: *Batavi (Germanic tribe) **Revolt of the Batavi * Batavi (military unit) * ...

, also became popular in Kemayoran. Styles of pencak silat developed in Kemayoran area are '' Beksi'', '' Cingkrik'', ''Si tembak'', ''Sin lam ba'', and ''Kolong meja''. Until late 80's, it is a common routine for children to practice pencak silat after the Isha prayers. During the 1990s, many of the traditional art and culture of Betawi characteristic of Kemayoran slowly disappeared.

Folklore

There are many folklores associated with Kemayoran, usually involving the conflict between the indigenous people of Kemayoran and the Dutch ''kompeni'' (local term for

who applied huge taxes to the local people.) One of the popular hero from the legend is Murtado ''"Si Macan Kemayoran"'' ("the Kemayoran Tiger") who protected the Kemayoran village area against the Dutch East India Company henchmen and the local bully who oppressed the villagers.

Transportation

Kemayoran can be reached by bus, train, taxi, or Angkot. Kemayoran station of Jakarta metro rail is located in the area. The area is served by

Transjakarta TransJakarta (stylised as transjakarta, often erroneously called Busway) is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Jakarta, Indonesia. The first BRT system in Southeast Asia, it commenced operations on 15 January 2004 to provide a fast public trans ...

corridor 12.

List of important places

* Kemayoran Athletes Village * Kemayoran railway station *Southern part of

References

{{Kemayoran Districts of Jakarta Central Jakarta