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Same same
but different
Discovering the familiar in the foreign, Lester V.
Ledesma’s Jakarta-Manila matchup is a tale of two
cities with a lot more in common than one might think
THERE’S A STRANGE
feeling of
familiarity that accompanies a visit to
the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Call it
a distinctly Pinoy form of travelers’ déjà
vu; one induced, perhaps, by the ever-
friendly locals who share many of our
smiles and skin color. Or it could be the
concrete jungle of buildings and buses,
layered with a streetwise sensibility
that Manileños know well. Squint hard
enough, and that boxy skyline could
very well be our own CBD. Just use your
imagination and the tough T’s and hard
R’s of Bahasa Indonesia do not sound all
that different from Tagalog.
Of course, these two proud capitals
are worlds apart in language and culture,
yet, they share uncanny similarities
in many respects. Here are two port
cities that share long colonial histories,
populated by people of largely the same
stock. You might even say that they
are different versions of the same tale;
Jakarta is a lot like Manila, and nowhere
is this clearer to see than on a tour of the
Indonesian capital’s old districts.
