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Jakarta was known as the Pearl of the Orient with massive agricultural wealth flowing through here. Then long-distance European sailing ships carried malaria to this once healthy seaport and it became one of the pestholes of the world. Known for 100 years as the Graveyard of the Orient, its canals became ideal breeding places for diseases. The modern city was built before WW II for 600,000 people and now contains 5.7 million. Since 1619, Jakarta has had a reputation for being rundown, decayed, hectic, a city of stinking canals, potholes and cracked sidewalks. Its water tastes like a rusty mug. A gung-ho mayor and tough ex-marine, Ali Sadikan has transformed Jakarta over the last 11 years with his iron broom into not only an industrial and trade city, but into a tourist and cultural city as well. Bang Ali stepped down July 11, 1977.