Surakarta


Surakarta, known colloquially as Solo, is a city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 46 km2 city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoharjo Regency to the east and west, and Sukoharjo Regency to the south. On the eastern side of Solo lies Solo River. Its built-up area made of Surakarta Municipality and 59 districts spread on 7 regencies was home to 3,649,254 inhabitants as of 2010 census.
Surakarta is the birthplace of the current President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. He served as Mayor of Surakarta from 2005 to 2012.

Administrative division

Surakarta City and its surrounding regencies, Karanganyar, Sragen, Wonogiri, Sukoharjo, Klaten, and Boyolali, are collectively called the ex-Surakarta Residency. After Surakarta became a city, it was divided into five districts, each led by a camat, and subdivided into 51 kelurahan, each led by a lurah. The districts of Surakarta are:
Surakarta as a dense core city in Central Java, and its second city, spills considerably into neighboring regencies. Though a traffic study quotes the population as 1,158,000 as of 2008, this reflects only the very core, as the city affects entire neighboring regencies by significantly driving up overall population densities in Sukoharjo Regency and Klaten Regency over the already dense countryside. Furthermore, the government of Indonesia officially defines a broader region as Surakarta's extended metropolitan zone, with the acronym Subosukawonosraten as the city and 6 surrounding regencies., though obviously not a core metropolitan area as some of its regencies are not particularly suburbanized, it reflects a broader planning region. Both the metropolitan area and extended areas border Yogyakarta's metropolitan area, while only the extended metropolitan area borders Kedungsapur or Greater Semarang.
Administrative divisionArea Population Population density
Surakarta Municipality44.03499,33711,340
Sukoharjo Regency466.66824,2381,766
Klaten Regency655.561,130,0471,723
Boyolali Regency1,015.1930,531916
Sragen Regency946.49858,266906
Karanganyar Regency800.28813,1961,016
Wonogiri Regency1,822.37928,904509
Greater Surakarta 5,750.495,984,5191,040

Demography

One of the earliest censuses held in Surakarta Residency was in 1885. At that time, with an area of about 5,677 km², there were 1,053,985 people in Surakarta Residency, including 2,694 Europeans and 7,543 Indonesian-Chinese. The area, 130 times the current area of Surakarta, had a population density of 186 people/km². The capital of the residency itself in 1880 had 124,041 people living in it.
According to the 2009 census, there were 245,043 males and 283,159 females in Surakarta. 119,951 of the population were 14 years or younger, 376,180 were between 15 and 64, and 32,071 were above 65. The number of households was 142,627 and the average number of household members was 3.7. The population growth in the last 10 years was about 0.565% per year.
The labor force of Solo in 2009 was 275,546, of whom 246,768 were working, while 28,778 were seeking work. Another 148,254 people aged 15 and above were not in the labor force. Based on employment numbers, the most common work in Solo was worker/paid employee, followed by self-employee, self-employee assisted by temporary employee, unpaid employee, self-employee assisted by permanent employee, freelance employee in non-agricultural work, and freelance employee in agricultural work. Based on the industry, most people in Solo worked in trade, services, manufacturing, communication, construction, financing, or agriculture, and the rest in mining, electricity, gas, and water companies.
The mean working week in Solo was 47.04 hours, and 212,262 people worked more than 35 hours per week compared to 34,506 who worked less than that.

Education

According to 2009 statistics, 242,070 people above 15 in the city had finished high school, while 86,890 had only finished junior high school, and 94,840 were still in school or had only finished elementary school. The percentage of high-school graduates was the highest of the cities and regencies in Central Java.
According to the statistics of Data Pokok Pendidikan, in the 2010/2011 school year, there were 68,153 students and 853 schools in Surakarta. There are two big universities possessing more than 20.000 students: Sebelas Maret University and Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta, both are recognised as among Indonesia's 50 best universities according to the Directorate of Higher Education, Ministry of Education RI. There is also arts concentrated university Art Institute of Surakarta, religious studies State Islamic Institute. There are around 52 private universities and colleges such as STIKES Muhammadiyah, Universitas Tunas Pembangunan, Universitas Slamet Riyadi, Universitas Surakarta, Universitas Setia Budi etc.

Economy

The per capita GDP of Surakarta in 2009 was 16,813,058.62 IDR, the fourth highest in Central Java after Kudus, Cilacap, and Semarang. The living standard in 2009 was 723,000 IDR. The Consumer price index in January 2011 was 119.44.

Sports

Surakarta has a long sport history and tradition. In 1923 Solo already had a football club, one of the earliest clubs in Indonesia, called Persis Solo. Persis Solo was a giant club in the Dutch Indies and still exists, but is past its heyday. During the Perserikatan tournament, Persis became seven-time champion. Currently it plays in the Liga 2 Indonesia. Other than Persis, several clubs have existed in Solo: Arseto, Pelita Solo, Persijatim Solo FC, and lastly Solo FC played in the Indonesian Premier League in 2011. Both clubs that still exist, Persis and Solo FC, have made Manahan Stadium their home ground. Manahan Stadium is one of the best sports stadiums in Central Java, with more than 25,000 seats, and has several times hosted national and international matches. It was recently the venue for the AFC Champions Cup 2007, the final venue of the Indonesian Cup 2010, and the opening venue for the Indonesian Premiere League on January 15, 2011.

Disabled Sports

Surakarta has hosted the first National Paralympic Games in 1957 and hosted several of the subsequent games. As a result, Surakarta has sport facilities sufficient for holding international disabled sports games.
In 1986, Surakarta hosted the :id:FESPIC Games 1986|4th FESPIC Games, making the games the first in Indonesian para-sport history in which international disabled sports games were held. The city is also the host city of the 2011 ASEAN Para Games, instead of Jakarta and Palembang, where the main games were held.

Transportation

Air

has direct flights to Kuala Lumpur by Malaysia Airlines and during the hajj season, Saudi Arabia, as well as regular flights to Jakarta by Garuda Indonesia, Sriwijaya Air, Lion Air and Citilink. The airport is located 14 km north of the city. Since May 2011, BST Batik Solo Trans buses connect the airport to the city. There is also taxicab service. In 2009 Adisumarmo had 2,060 outbound domestic flights and 616 outbound international flights.

Train

Surakarta has four train stations,,,, and . Solo Balapan is the largest station in Surakarta, and is the junction between Yogyakarta, Semarang, and Surabaya, while Purwosari is the junction located west of Solo Balapan, and has a connection to Wonogiri. There are several direct lines to other cities, such as Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Semarang, Madiun, and Malang. For regional traffic, a special train Prameks connects Surakarta, Yogyakarta, and Purworejo Regency.
In 26 July 2011 the Bathara Kresna Rail Bus has been launched to serve – route, but for the moment only Purwosari-Sukoharjo trackage was ready due to there are 99 bridges should be strengthen between Sukoharjo-Wonogiri.
Until April 2012, Surakarta-Wonogiri railbus is still in a big question mark due to the 12 tons railbuses are considered too heavy for existing railroad track that only has the capacity of accommodating 10-ton vehicles, furthermore PT KAI have proposed a fare between Rp30,000 and Rp40,000 per passenger, while Surakarta administration wants tickets to be priced much lower between Rp5,000 and Rp7,000.

Road

Tirtonadi Terminal is the largest bus terminal in Surakarta. Surakarta is situated on Indonesian National Route 15, which connects it to Yogyakarta and Waru. Semarang–Solo Toll Road connects the city with
provincial capital Semarang. In 2009 the total extent of roadways in the city was 705.34 km: 13.15 km state road, 16.33 km province road, and 675.86 km local road. The number of bus companies was 23, and the total number of buses operating was 1,115 intra-provincial buses and 1,107 inter-provincial.
In 2010, the government of Surakarta launched a new bus service named Batik Solo Trans, which resembles TransJakarta bus rapid transit service. As of 2017, it has only three routes. A single trip costs Rp.3000, Rp.1500 for students. A special ticket for the trip from or to the airport costs Rp.7000.

Hydrogeology

The water sources for Surakarta are in the valley of Merapi, a total of 19 locations, with a capacity of 3,404 l/second. The average source water height is 800–1,200 m above sea level. In 1890–1927 there were only 12 wells in Surakarta. Today, underground water wells in 23 locations produce about 45 l/second.
In March 2006, Surakarta's state water company had a production capacity of 865.02 l/second : from Cokrotulung, Klaten, 27 km from Solo, 387 l/s ; and from 26 deep wells, with a total capacity of 478.02 l/second. The total reservoir capacity is 9,140 m3 nd can serve 55,22% of the population.

Climate

Under the Köppen climate classification, Surakarta features a tropical monsoon climate. The city has a lengthy wet season spanning from October through June, and a relatively short dry season covering the remaining three months. On average Surakarta receives just under 2200 mm of rainfall annually, with its wettest months being December, January, and February. As is common in areas featuring a tropical monsoon climate, temperatures are relatively consistent throughout the year. Surakarta's average temperature is roughly 30 °C every month.

Tourism

One main tourist attraction of Surakarta is the Keraton Surakarta, the palace of Susuhunan Pakubuwono, also the Princely Javanese court of Mangkunegaran. Pasar Gede market is often visited by tourists, mostly for its unique architecture and fame as the biggest traditional market in the Solo area. The Pasar Klewer is famous for its batiks in all prices and qualities, while the Pasar Triwindhu located near Mangkunegaran palace specialises in antiques. Taman Sriwedari is a popular local entertainment park featuring a children's playground, dangdut music performance and Wayang Wong traditional Javanese dance performance almost every night. Near the park is Radyapustaka Museum, one of the oldest museums in Indonesia, with a collection of Javanese cultural artefacts. The traditional batik village of Laweyan and Kampung Batik Kauman, located in the southwest part of the city and the city centre respectively, are famous for producing fine quality Javanese batik.
Within Surakarta tourists can also use the Jaladara old steam train which was launched on in September 2009 for 5.6 km connecting Purwosari Station and Solo Kota Station. In 2011 there were 60 trips and in 2012 will be 80 trips.

People from Surakarta