The Beauty of Nature & Society
Geographically, West Java province is situated between 5 50' - 7 50' SL and 104 48' - 108 48' WL. In the North it is bordered by Western of Java Sea and DKI Jakarta, in the South by Indian Ocean, and in the West by the province of Banten. The area of West Java can be classified into 3 different zones. They are the Northern Zone consists of low land plain, the Southern Zone consists of hills and coastal areas, and the Middle Zone consists of mountains and high plain. The strategic condition of West Java brings out some advantages, especially in the aspects of transportation and communications. Another advantageous point is the fact that west Java is located directly next toJakarta, the capital city of the country, and it may encourage the growth of life activities for people living in West Java.
West Java is also blessed by its favorable tropical climates where the temperatures range from 90 C at the peak of Mt Pangrango to 340 C, in the Northern coast. Index of rain fall ranges from the average 2,000 mm per year to 3,000- 5,000 mm per year in some mountainous areas. Lots of rain have created vast stream from rivers and big and small lakes (Situ). Therefore there is a huge amount of water deposit in West Java and it becomes invaluable source for the community Agricultural fields and rain forests, which can be continuously exploited and recovered, are also invaluable resources together with those from coastal areas and seas and they all indicate the fertility of most of the areas in West Java. Rain forests provide the economical and ecological functions. Ecologically they serve as preservation and conservation areas of all fauna and flora that inhabited them and economically, they produce forest products such as logs and timber and their side products.On the other hand natural socollusionurces from coastal areas and seas such as fish and other marine bio organism, together with their different eco-systems, such as forests of mangrove and coral reefs, are potential to be exploited and developed as tourist resorts in the near future. The native West Java, known as Sundanese and speak Sundanese language, has a unique characteristics of culture which is strongly influenced by its friendly natural environment. The social interaction behaviors among Sundanese are the reflection of their philosophy condensed in wise words “silih asah, silih asih, silih asuh “ or in plain English people should help improve each other, love each other, and take care of each other.
This philosophy is a concept of democracy in life that has its roots in the people's conscience and good ethics. Not only do Native Sundanese care for their own fellow men and their natural environment, but they also care for their belief in God creates man and everything else in the universe (Triangle of life) . The reflection of their passion toward their natural environment is best shown by how selective and strict people in rural areas are in exploiting the forests for their daily needs. Some of them even got the national recognition as heroes of life environment. Native Sundanese is also known as a religious community they act, despite the fact that they have different religions such as Islam, Christian (catholic and protestant), Hindu, and Budha, following the guidance and norms given by their religions taught by their holy books. Despite the fact that the majority of native Sundanese are Moslem, people live in a good harmony in their daily life. They tend to be more open and tolerant toward new things or norms which create a quite dynamic and harmonious process of social interaction Native Sundanese is, quite realistic, communicative and actively responsive to deal with the transformation of new cultural and social values as well as the acculturation and the global competition occurring in their daily life.
This is due to their openness to accepting new changes and the renewal of their basic norms of life and their courage to interact to the world cultural changes along with the change of the era. This philosophy has allowed the growth of the establishment of social and cultural development centers in West Java such as art Halls and Theaters, Community empowerment centers, Youth Hostel, Social Center, museums, etc. In accordance with their life's attitude reflected in the expression “Dimana bumi dipijak, disitu langit dijunjung “or in English to respect and act accordingly to the culture and customs of the place one lives, natives of West Java welcome the migrants from other regions of the country to live together with them in harmony. This has made the increase of the number of migrants coming to West Java and as the results of the migration, the population of people becomes more heterogenous and positive acculturation occurs among the community members which in turn causes the improvement on the human resources quality such as being intelligent, self sustained, highly persistent, creative, innovative, and competitive. On the other hand, the growing trends of globalization, high social mobility, and dynamic pattern of migration, have brought in the global life's styles that allow the establishment and development of industries of services, manufacturing, tourism, transportation, and others in West Java that have gradually been shifting the role of agriculture once brought it to become the Nation's food stockade.
Despite its heterogeneity, up to the present time the community in West Java has succeeded in maintaining the security, stability and conducive atmospheres of living within its region . This is a significant contribution to the national stability since its strategic position as buffer zone to the capital of the country plays a crucial role to the nation's future. For instance, West Java has succeeded to hold general election in a peaceful, democratic, air, and just manners, also the election of people's representative entity (DPRD= County House of Representatives, and the election of heads of regions (regents and majors) throughout regencies and cities in West Java The security and stability in West Java, in many ways have become the reference in the joint efforts toward facilitating dialogues among the components and exponents in the community in the identification, finding, and designing strategic solutions to the objectives of the nation's freedom struggles. As to the future context, West Java has succeeded in initiating the paradigm of government administration which is more effective and efficient, community development and empowerment by facilitating interactive dialogues among the community as the agents of developments or stakeholders to determine the vision and mission in the region.
West Java has succeeded in establishing a joint commitment with the community members regarding the formulation of government function as director and facilitator, while the function of execution will be carried out by potencies in the community's exponents, including private sectors, independent community institutions, and other components of the community, individually or in groups. Basically, the life's platform which always put harmony first is quite potential to be developed in West Java because there is a strong community commitment of Sundanese people, the natives of West Java to the principles of life, “Herang caina beunang laukna” meaning to solve a problem without creating another. Or a principle of win-win solution. An attitude originated from Sundanese cultural commitment that always hold to values of wisdom as reflected in their wise words “Ulah unggut kalinduan, ulah gedag kaanginan” meaning being consistent and consequent toward the truth, and being able to balance conscience and reasonability in a harmonious way, or “Sing katepi ku ati sing kahontal ku akal “The attitude that encourage one to think carefully first before doing something Historical records show that West Java has been an ideal place for the establishment of study centers and universities, researches centers and many other educational and art institutions. The followings are wellknown universities and institutes located in West Java; The Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB), Educational University of Indonesia (UPI), Institute of Agriculture Bogor (IPB), The University of Padjadjaran Bandung (Unpad), The University of Indonesia (UI) Depok, University of Domestic Governmental Affair (STPDN), The Institute of Cooperative (Ikopin), Bandung Islam University (Unisba), The Islam National Institute (IAIN) of Gunung Djati, The Catholic University of Parahyangan (Unpar), and other specific institutes like The Institute of Indonesian Arts and Dances (ISTI), etc.
It is worth noticing that West Java ranks first in the number of individuals possessing master degrees diplomas compared to other provinces in Indonesia. In the nation's level West Java has played an important role in the economy sector. Most industries and national commerce agencies located in West Java, which have already occupied approximately 18,000 hectares of land, have been equipped with highway network (toll), banking facility, electricity and telecommunication Those are all well arranged in accordance with the master lay out concept as the construction and establishment reference, which in quantity exceeds that of the other provinces in Indonesia. The quality of human resources and apparatus of local authority is better than those in other regions. Moreover, the security and stability guarantees make West Java highly potential and conducive for business establishment. The security and stability of West Java can be well conditioned due to the fact that it accommodates quite a number of strategic military installations that allow the maximum security to be performed and maintained intensively and comprehensively as well throughout the region. More than that people in West Java show strong commitment to law enforcement.
This is the important asset especially regarding the guarantee from the authority on the law certainty in running the business. To obtain the optimal and satisfactory level of security and stability in West Java, the local authority has been trying to increase the law enforcement among all elements in the community. It should be noted that the unsatisfactory law enforcement is due to the basic common weakness among the judicial officials still influenced by the domination of power in the past. Law can be bent for the shake of power. The local authority is also focusing its efforts to administer the management of government which is free from nepotism, collusion, and corruptions in the attempt to establish good governance and good civil society.
In the aspect of development, West Java has shown a number of successful achievements reflected by Index of Man Development (IPM) is an indicator of achievement in development in a macro way which is determined by three components of performance in man building. They are education, health, and buying competence. As in other provinces, West Java is working on the process of real and responsible self autonomy. It provides authority in administrating and governing the region which is inter, -regencies and cities, the authority in deconcentration and the authority which is not under the regencies and cities responsibilities. West Java are growing and developing their position and constellation in their future live and development.
The Government of West Java has many ways in order to rise the public participation in potential business development. Potential business development is being done through improvement of human resources quality. In general the attempts to improve the quality of human resources cannot be separated from the realization of gratitude of the community to God' blessing. God has blessed them with the condition in which West Java have always managed to protect its community from various kinds of threats attempting to take away the sense of security.
Therefore West Java is entitled to the phrase, a piece of paradise in Archipelago. There were a number of international and domestic events held in this province, such as the General Assembly's Session, the Asia and Africa Conference which issued Declaration of Bandung Spirit to unite the countries in Asia and Africa, The Asia Pacific Economy Conference (APEC) held in Bandung the capital of West Java province.
The Beauty of Art & Culture
Culture can be defined as man's creativity to survive, have children to continue his generation, and improve his welfare. Culture reflects the entire man's knowledge as a social being used to deal with his environment and experience, utilizing his physic and natural surroundings. The cultural image of West Java is well expressed by the beauty of the artistically esthetic and ethics among the community. The sharp little fingers movements, hidden smiles, almost melodious speeches, and dynamic composition of movement are the reflection of their art expressions. If one takes a good look at Sundanese and Cirebonan arts he can see the harmonies blends of intelligent life, wisdom, and freshness.
A good example of acculturation showing the success of the community in the interaction process and accepting global new values without losing its identity can be seen through their arts expressions flourished well in the northern coastal areas of West Java such as Tanjidor in Bekasi, that once thought was originated from Betawi Culture, turned out to be the mixed Sundanese and European cultures. Other examples are Tarling, Topeng and Adzan Pitu art performances in Cirebon which can be classified as global cultural expressions in their specific format. While in the Northern of West Java the interactions and acceptances of global values transformation have been taking place, the arts reflecting people's closeness to nature have also been taking place in the Southern of West Java, including their religious expressions. A good example is Ubrug, a folk theater, other examples are Cianjuran and Kecapi suling performance.
More melodious and dimensional depth of art expressions grow well in other areas of Tatar Sunda (Sundanese plain) , especially in Priangan or Parahyangan for example, Degung musical performance with its specific traditional musical instrument played by Nayagas Comical art and poetries (Bobodoran and Sisindiran) is another example performing fresh and comical dialogues. Rampak Kendang, Kendang Pencak, and Jaipong, Sisingaan are perfect examples of the depth of dynamic life full of passion spirit.
Specific traditional musical instrument is angklung, which is made of bamboos in different size to produce different tones and attached to a bamboo section, one can feel the rhythm and melody that mix together into a composition reflecting the depth of passion that people in West Java has to a harmonious life. Now, when the rapid process of changes is happening and the new millennium is beginning to enter the life of human being, the awareness of Sundanese community to expose themselves as Sundanese People seem to find the right moment and space. As a community they are aware that it is crucial to preserve the culture of Sunda with its traditional values and culture instead of merely showing a gesture of commitment toward the culture preservation, Sundanese community in West Java is more concerned with how to increase the community's role and participation in preserving life environment in tatar Sunda, to encourage the local authority to draw a policy that protects and respects cultural work of art of Sundanese, to encourage the community to use, for their needs, the cultural information, to encourage the local authority to develop common people economy system, to persuade the concerns of national and international institutions and other independent organizations in a joint efforts to preserve the culture of Sunda and to insist that the local authority makes a policy regarding the protection and development of education in life's environment. In reality, the actual interaction process, when confronted with the global culture, has put Sundanese community in a situation where they cannot avoid the fact that they need to open rooms for transformation and culture interaction that formulate new charms of culture reflected in their daily life in many aspects.
Peaceful transformation of culture has made West Java a secured and relatively stable region and capable of introducing reformation based on the existing and growing norms of culture. The indicator to a success of this reformation in politics, economy and culture is when all of thoseaspects are realized. The religious and spiritual awareness increase and the reduction of the number of the poor are also good indicator of success. There is a specific and typical policy of the local authority of Wet Java concerning this matter. It is condensed in the slogan DAKABALAREA (dahareun loba, kabeuli ku ra'yat, barudak bisa sakola, tur ra'yat jagjag waringkas, layanan umum ningkat, reformasi dilaksanakeun, anu ariman nambahan anu miskin ngurangan). DAKABALAREA is a real and concrete effort in materializing awareness and responsibility of the community and the local authority in dealing with crises. Dahareun Loba is a commitment to achieve the objective of maintaining the food sustainability proportionally. Kabeuli ku ra'yat meaning with a reasonable price or affordable for the common people to obtain it,. Barudak bisa sakola tur jagjag waringkas, a commitment to provide education and health for each and everyone in the community.
The dynamic of the community civilization which is like the movement of a jaipong dancer following the rhythm of the drums and the musical instruments played by nayagas, is potential to be developed because of the cultural understanding and its implementation in a modern life At wayang golek (wooden puppet) performance and in many other art performances there is always a wisdom in coping with phenomenon and paradigm of the community life of people in West Java. Through kidungs (a ballad song) in various compositions such as sinom, dangdanggula, asmarandana, and others and also kecapi suling producing sounds of the souls that travel across the hills, valleys, and beaches, one can always detect the beauty of conscience and the expression of the finest thoughts among the common people The expression of The Culture of Sunda that accommodates the depth of the life 's philosophy, and the spiritual and esthetical journey is best shown in the art of glass painting, and batik painting such as batik Cirebon, batik garutan and Tasikmalaya embroideries. Sundanese is also known for their expertise in blacksmith making specific gong, and traditional weapons such as kujang, golok and others.
Design concept of Sundanese architecture makes the best use of materials taken from the nature such as the domestic traditional kitchen utensils made from bamboo and coconut leaves and this is a good example of a dynamic civilization of the culture of Sunda. In the world of literature, pantun buhun has been known for years as the work of art containing philosophical thoughts and life attitude of sundanese community in responding to the phenomenon and paradigm of their life in all aspects. Including the process of growth of the civilization from animism, polytheism, to monotheism. Therefore even though most of Sundanese are Moslems there is syncretism and mysticism among some of them. Tourism is also potential to be developed to become an industry in the future. Especially when they are all laid side by side with specific sundanese cakes and cookies produced by products of agriculture. Sundanese cuisines, beside the tradition of sundanese women to take a good care of their bodies that makes them beautiful and fresh, is potential to be developed and managed for prospective investment. The combination of traditional cuisine, high modern technology of cooking utensils, and equipments will make good restaurants whereas the tradition for body care among sundanese women allows the potential to establish industry in cosmetics using natural herbs as their ingredients.
Finally, the entire aspects of culture are united in the unification of culture that is continuously interactive along with the growth of culture transformation process with the illustration of sharp little fingers moving graciously with hidden smiles from sundanese beautiful girls, can represent the warmness, closeness and the beauty of the esthetic of culture presented by the culture of West Java, from which the doors to the civilization are open.
Investment Opportunity
With its average contribution of 15.87%, West Java province plays an important role the aspect of economy in the national level. West Java has become one of the favorable destinations among private investors, either foreign or domestic ones. In 1999, the total amount of foreign investment brought into the country reached $ 53.55 billions and $ 18.4 billions of it was allocated in West Java. In 2001, the total amount of foreign investment brought into the country reduced to $ 17.5 billions and $ 5.67 billions was allocated in West Java.The decrease of foreign investment allocated in West Java was due to the decrease of total amount of investment brought in the nationally. It is quite fair to presume that West Java is considered favorable among foreign investor to bring in their investment.
During 1993- 2002 the growth rate of capitals investment, consisting of private sector, government investment and domestic house hold investment, has reached up to 1.73 %. The establishment of investment during these periods was 23.44 % from PDRB West Java. West Java's biggest economic contributors in 2003 came from the Manufacturing industry (36.23%), followed by the trade, hotels, and restaurants sector (14.47%), and the last was from agricultural sector (14.87%). From those sectors mentioned above it is obvious that manufacturing industry and trade, hotels, and restaurants sector were dominant in increasing the economic growth in West Java.
It is unfortunate that the contribution from the sector of agriculture, even though quite significant, was decreasing the sector of transportation and communications is quite potential with current contribution of 5.26 %, yet experiences a rapid growth. The growth of economy in regencies/city in West Java also varies. The statistics mode during 1993- 2002 showed those with higher growth of economy than that of the province itself. They are the cities of Bekasi, Bogor, Cirebon, Sukabumi, Bandung, and Depok, the regencies of Bekasi, Bogor, Bandung and Karawang.
The prospect and opportunity in West Java are based on the development of 6 (six) core businesses. They are agro-business, marine business, manufacturing industries, tourism, services, and human resource development. It is also important to mention the supports of other aspects such as infrastructures for transportation or other public sector.
