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The chief drama of Jakarta is its contrasts, a fascinating collision of East and West. It has Indonesia's highest and most expensive buildings and by far its murkiest slums, the most highly and the least educated people. Ultra-modern and ultratraditional, fast and slow, are side by side. Airconditioned diesels hurtle by the peddler; skyscrapers throw shadows across hovels made of cardboard, plastic and tin cans; shiny new Holdens park by squatter's passageways filled with flies. It's Indonesia's most dynamic, problem-ridden city. climate; Lying on the flattest, least interesting coast of Java, it could be suffocatingly humid. Because of the city's outdated sewerage and drainage system, two-thirds of Jakarta is inundated each rainy season when all municipal and central government offices close down, there are traffic snarls, stranded vehicles, petrol shortages, and up to 250,000 people in need of shelter.