Rising Trend of Skateboarding in Jakarta

Skateboarding has been increasingly in vogue since the 2018 Asian Games. While skateboarders were frequently seen as “wild” in the past, lovers of the sport are now seen freely in action at many city parks.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Skateboarders share space with pedestrians on the sidewalk of Sudirman-Thamrin street, Central Jakarta, Friday (12/3/2021).1

The sidewalk along Jl. Jend. Sudirman near the roundabout in Senayan, Jakarta, was teeming with people doing a variety of activities on Monday (4/4/2022). Without disturbing the pedestrians, many youths were skateboarding enthusiastically.

That paved sidewalk is indeed ideal for skateboarders. It is more than 5 meters wide and has a block 60 centimeters high and 3 meters long that can be used as an obstacle for sliding atop or along its edge.

That afternoon, Aria Satria, 21, was riding his skateboard back and forth, cruising and kickflipping repeatedly.

Kickflipping is a maneuver that is executed by using both feet to flip the skateboard into the air so it rotates 360 degrees horizontally. The skateboarder then lands on the board with both feet to return to the original position.

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Aria stopped now and again to talk to his friends. “After getting used to skateboarding, I’ve got many friends ride with. Sometimes we do it until dawn, which is way better than getting involved in crime. I also have my parents’ support,” said Aria, who lives in Bogor, West Java.

Aria, a fan of skateboard athlete Sanggoe Dharma Tanjung, has been skateboarding since he was in elementary school. He assembled his own board at a cost of Rp 1 million. His dedication bore fruit 2021, when he won runner-up in a skateboard competition in Bandung.

The story of Derian, 25, is also inspiring. Skateboarding has changed his life. The former street child escaped from a hard life filled with brawls, heading to the cement hardtop to realize his dream of raising the country’s image.

Skateboarding has changed my life. I used to be [undisciplined]. Now I’m getting better, willing to learn and making achievements.

On 26-27 March 2022 in Denpasar, Bali, Derian was one of around 60 skateboarders from across the archipelago who made it into the top five of the national tryouts for the upcoming 2022 Asian Games, to be held in September in Hangzhou, China.

“Skateboarding has changed my life. I used to be [undisciplined]. Now I’m getting better, willing to learn and making achievements,” Derian said on Tuesday (5/4) at Skatepark under the Pasar Rebo Flyover in Cijantung, East Jakarta.

Bernard, 41, a member of the Pasar Rebo Skateboarding Community and a coach of the sport, said public spaces with recreational facilities were vital in Jakarta, and that they had a positive impact on developing young people’s interests and talents. Derian, said Bernard, was just one example of the many youths who were able to change their fate through skateboarding.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

A young man demonstrates his skateboarding skills on the sidewalk of Sudirman-Thamrin street, Jakarta, Friday (12/3/2021).

Thriving

Skateboarding has appeared in Kompas coverage since the 1970s. In the beginning, the capital city had no specially designed skate parks for skateboarding. Skateboarders had to practice in secret, as it was an illegal activity, and they were often chased away.

“Skateboarding is now peaking, particularly after the 2018 Asian Games. Players are being sponsored from foreign brands and are joining contests, as well as becoming professionals abroad,” said Johan Tambunan, 44, a graphic designer and cofounder of the Senayan Skateboarders Community, established in 1993.

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Moreover, according to Johan, the sport is seeing a growing number of public skate parks that are accessible to everyone, thanks to the support of the central government and the Jakarta administration. There are also skate schools. In addition, relevant industry sectors are growing to produce skateboards and the kind of clothing preferred by skateboarders and young people in general.

This is unlike former times. Skateboarders had to share the costs of building the obstacles at Gates 1 and 3 at the Senayan sports complex. Learning material was also limited and the necessary equipment had to be imported at very high prices. Skateboarding in the past was thus only limited to those who were better off.

Humanist vision

Rakhmat Hidayat, a sociologist at Jakarta State University, said on Wednesday (6/4) that apart from their environmental function, green open spaces and city parks with recreational facilities, like skate parks, were a manifestation of the vision of a humanist city that provided social spaces for its residents.

In his view, green open spaces were very important to a city’s identity. Therefore, the government should firmly commit to the creation of green open spaces and parks in developing housing complexes, office buildings or shopping centers.

“In the future, parks will meet the needs of the succeeding generations for healthy fresh air and social spaces,” he pointed out.

This article was translated by Aris Prawira.