Jakarta: Portraits of a Capital 1950–1980

This book presents 178 postcards collected by the Australian author across the decades he lived in Indonesia, and follows on from his previous work spanning 1900–1950. The period covered in this edition saw a 352% increase in the city’s population, and spans president Sukarno’s later years and the early years of Suharto. As noted in the foreword and chapter introductions, the former was responsible for a great deal of development as part of his nation-building programme, both for Indonesia and as an intended beacon to the developing post-colonial world.

The introduction features maps contemporary to the postcards and provides some historical context on the city’s layout and development over the decades. Two chapters cover 1950–1960 and 1960–1980, roughly split either side of the nationalisation of Dutch assets and exile of its citizens. Each chapter leads off with its own introduction and then the postcards, which are illuminated by texts and divided into sections: government buildings, other landmarks and major locations feature, as well as cinemas, beaches, the now-defunct tramways and — of course — the now-ubiquitous traffic jams. The postcards may be more prosaic than artistic, but are a fascinating window into the changes undergone in this intriguing city.