Cirebon is a city in West Java Province, Indonesia. It is located on the north coast of Java, known as the Pantura (North Coast) route, connecting Jakarta, Cirebon, Semarang, and Surabaya.
Cirebon originally came from the word sarumban, a small hamlet founded by Ki Gedeng Tapa. Over time, Cirebon developed into a bustling village, later named Caruban (carub in Cirebonese means united). It was given this name because of the mix of immigrants from various nations, including Sundanese, Javanese, Chinese, and Arab cultural elements), religions, languages, and customs. Later, the pronunciation of the word caruban changed again to carbon and then cerbon.
Besides the naming factor of the place, the use of the word Cirebon is also due to the fact that since the beginning, the livelihood of the majority of the community was fishing. Therefore, the work of catching fish and rebon (small shrimp) developed along the coast, as well as the production of shrimp paste, petis (shrimp paste), and salt. From the term used to make shrimp paste or what in Cirebonese is called (belendrang), which is made from the residue of processing rebon shrimp, the term cai-rebon (Sundanese: air rebon) developed, which later became Cirebon.
Cirebon City is located at 6°41′N 108°33′E on the north coast of Java Island, in the eastern part of West Java, stretching 8 kilometers from west to east, 11 kilometers from north to south, with an altitude of 5 meters above sea level (including lowlands). Cirebon City can be reached by land for 130 km from Bandung City and 258 km from Jakarta City.
Cirebon City is strategically located and serves as a transportation hub between West Java and Central Java. Its coastal location means that Cirebon has a more expansive plain area than its hilly areas. The city covers 37.54 square kilometers, with land use dominated by residential (32%) and agricultural (38%).
The Cirebon City area is bordered to the north by the Kedung Pane River, to the west by the Banjir Kanal River, Cirebon Regency, to the south by the Kalijaga River, and to the east by the Java Sea.
Most of the area is lowland with an altitude between 0-2000 above sea level, while the slope gradient is between 0-40% where 0-3% is an area with urban characteristics, 3-25% is a transmission area and 25-40% is the outskirts.
This city is crossed by several rivers, including the Kedung Pane River, Sukalila River, Kesunean River, and Kalijaga River.
Cirebon has a tropical climate. Annual rainfall is 1,351 mm, with 86 rainy days. Humidity ranges from 48% to 93%, with the highest humidity occurring between January and March and the lowest between June and August.
The average annual rainfall in Cirebon is approximately 2260 mm/year, with approximately 155 rainy days. Based on the Schmidt-Ferguson climate classification, Cirebon's climate is classified as type C, with a Q value of approximately 37.5% (the ratio of dry to wet months). The rainy season occurs between October and April, and the dry season occurs between June and September.
There are three types of wind conditions:
Cirebon is known as the Shrimp City and the City of Saints. It is also known as Caruban Nagari (a marker for Mount Ceremai) and Grage (Negeri Gede in Cirebon, meaning a vast kingdom). As a cultural melting pot of Javanese, Sundanese, Arab, Chinese, and European settlers centuries ago, the people of Cirebon have adopted vocabulary from these languages into their Cirebonese dialect. For example, the word "Murad" (meaning "stacked") (a loanword from Arabic), "taocang" (a Chinese loanword), and "sonder" (meaning "without") (a European loanword).
According to the Purwaka Caruban Nagari Manuscript, in the 15th century, on the coast of the Java Sea, there was a small fishing village called Muara Jati. At that time, many foreign ships arrived to trade with the local population. The port manager was Ki Gedeng Alang-Alang, appointed by the ruler of the Galuh Kingdom (Pajajaran). Islamic activity also flourished at this port. Ki Gedeng Alang-Alang moved his settlement to a new one in Lemahwungkuk, 5 km south, near the foothills of the Galuh Kingdom. Ki Gedeng Alang-Alang was appointed head of the new settlement, with the title Kuwu Cerbon.
In subsequent developments, Prince Walangsungsang, son of King Siliwangi, was appointed Duke of Cirebon with the title Cakrabumi. This prince founded the Cirebon Kingdom, beginning by refusing to send tribute to King Galuh. Therefore, King Galuh sent an army to Cirebon to subdue the Duke of Cirebon. However, the Duke of Cirebon proved too strong for King Galuh, and he emerged victorious.
Thus, a new kingdom was established in Cirebon, with a king bearing the title Cakrabuana. The founding of the Cirebon kingdom marked the beginning of the Islamic Kingdom of Cirebon, with its port of Muara Jati expanding into Southeast Asia.
Then on January 7, 1681, Cirebon was politically and economically under the control of the VOC, after the ruler of Cirebon at that time signed an agreement with the VOC.
In 1858, Cirebon had five retail stores and two trading companies. In 1865, sugar exports totaled 200,000 quintals, and in 1868, three Batavia sugar trading companies opened branches in Cirebon. By 1877, Cirebon had an ice factory. Drinking water pipes connecting artesian wells to housing were built in 1877.
During the colonial period of the Dutch East Indies government, in 1906 Cirebon was officially recognized as Gemeente Cheribon with an area of 1,100 ha and a population of 20,000 people (Stlb. 1906 No. 122 and Stlb. 1926 No. 370). Then in 1942, Cirebon City was expanded to 2,450 ha and in 1957 its government status became a Municipality with an area of 3,300 ha, after being designated as a Municipality in 1965 its area became 3,600 ha.
On April 15, 2011, the city of Cirebon was rocked by a suicide bombing. The bombing took place at the Cirebon Police Headquarters mosque. The suicide bomber died instantly, and several others were seriously injured.
After gaining the status of Gemeente Cirebon in 1906, the city was only led by a Burgermeester (mayor) in 1920 with the first mayor being J.H. Johan. Then succeeded by R.A. Scotman in 1925. In 1926, Gemeente Cirebon's status was upgraded by the Dutch East Indies government to stadgemeente, with broader autonomy to regulate the city's development. Then in 1928, J.M. van Oostrom Soede was chosen as the next mayor.
During the Japanese occupation, Asikin Nataatmaja was appointed Shitjo (mayor) from 1942 to 1943. He was then succeeded by Muhiran Suria until 1949, before being replaced by Prinata Kusuma.
After the proclamation of Indonesian independence, the Cirebon City government tried to change the image of Cirebon City that had been formed during the Dutch colonial period with new symbols and city identities, different from before. where the city is known by its motto per aspera ad astra (from thorns and mud to the stars), then replaced with the motto used today. In 2010 based on a survey of perceptions of cities throughout Indonesia by Transparency International Indonesia (TII), this city was included among the most corrupt cities in Indonesia along with Pekanbaru City, this is seen from the 2010 Indonesian Corruption Perception Index (IPK-Indonesia) which is a measurement of the level of corruption of local governments in Indonesia, this city both received an IPK score of 3.61, with an index range of 0 to 10, 0 means perceived as very corrupt, while 10 is very clean. The total number of respondents interviewed in the survey conducted between May and October 2010 was 9237 respondents, consisting of business people.
The sub-districts in Cirebon City are:
The administrative area of Cirebon City Government covers 38.10 km2, and in 2014 consisted of 5 sub-districts, 22 urban villages, 247 Community Units (RW), and 1,352 Neighborhood Units (RT). Harjamukti is the largest sub-district (47%), followed by Kesambi (22%), Lemahwungkuk (17%), Kejaksan (10%), and Pekalipan (4%).
Civil Servants (PNS) working in the Cirebon City Government reached 6,982 people, with a composition of 3,532 male employees and 3,450 female employees. The education level of civil servants in the Cirebon City Government is mostly bachelor's and high school graduates, bachelor's graduates reached 32.34 percent, while high school graduates reached 28.12 percent. Meanwhile, D3 graduates reached 22.23 percent, junior high school around 7.69 percent, D1/D3 around 26.37 percent, and S2 around 1.85 percent, and there are still elementary school graduates who work, reaching 3.64 percent.
Meanwhile, the members of the Cirebon City DPRD in 2008 were 30 people, consisting of 28 men and 2 women, with the majority of DPRD members having a high school education level of 13 people, then the second most were S1 graduates of 10 people, and S2 graduates of 7 people. The DPRD members were divided into 6 factions, the largest faction members were the PDIP Faction and the Golkar Faction, each of which was 26.7 percent, while for other factions, such as the PAN Faction reached 13.3 percent, PKB around 13.3 percent, PKS Faction around 10.0 percent and the Democratic Party Faction at 10.0 percent.
According to the 2010 West Java Census, the population of Cirebon City reached 298,000, with approximately 145,000 males and 153,000 females, for a sex ratio of 94.85.
The population of Cirebon City is spread across five sub-districts, the sub-district with the highest population density is Pekalipan Sub-district with 21.5 thousand people/km², the second most densely populated is Kejaksan Sub-district with 11.8 thousand people/km², then Kesambi Sub-district with 8.8 thousand people/km², Lemahwungkuk Sub-district with 8.45 thousand people/km², and the lowest density is in Harjamukti Sub-district with almost 5.48 thousand people/km².
At the end of 2014, the city of Cirebon had a population of 384,000, up from 300,434 in 2012. The city's GRDP per capita in 2012 was Rp43.65 million (at current prices) or Rp19.78 million (at constant prices 2000). According to the Cirebon City Statistics Agency (BPS), the real purchasing power of the city's residents in 2012 grew by 5.2% compared to 2011. This growth has been observed to continue to increase in the last four years.
Cirebon is strategically located at the intersection of three major Indonesian cities: Jakarta, Bandung, and Semarang. All modes of transportation, including land, sea, and air, integrate to support Cirebon's development.
Cirebon has two train stations: Cirebon Kejaksan Station and Prujakan Station. Kejaksan Station, with its distinctive Dutch colonial architecture, serves almost all destinations in Java, both large and small. Cirebon's land transportation terminal includes the large Harjamukti Terminal, located on the Cirebon Bypass.
Cirebon Port is currently used solely for transporting coal and basic necessities from other islands in Indonesia. Cakrabuana Airport, the airport in Cirebon City, is currently used exclusively for aviation schools and the military.
In this city, there are still typical Cirebon Becaks as a means of public transportation as well as a means for sightseeing around the city.
According to records from the Cirebon City Public Works and Public Housing Agency, the length of roads in Cirebon City in 2009 was recorded as 166,686 km. Of this length, the majority (99%) were paved, at 165,217 km; and 1,448 km (1%) were gravel roads. In terms of road condition, 161,439 km were in good condition, approximately 4,141 km were in fair condition, and 1.08 km were in damaged condition, either severely or lightly.
The number of motorcycles, passenger cars, and cargo vehicles tends to increase year after year. In 2006, the number of motorcycles was recorded at 80,714, and in 2008, the number increased to 109,961.
Activities at Cirebon seaport throughout 2006-2009 experienced a decline from 1,809 ships docked in 2006 to 1,630 ships docked in 2009. Of these ships, 40 were international, 1,488 were domestic, and 132 were community ships. The flow of goods based on trade at Cirebon port was dominated by inter-island cargo and unloading.
Air traffic through Penggung Cirebon Airport increased from 899 aircraft in 2009 to 1,110 aircraft in 2010. In 2010 there was also an increase in the volume of aircraft departures, because in 2010 there were 1,117 aircraft departing from Penggung Airport.
In 2009, Cirebon train station carried 683,912 passengers. June saw the highest number of train passengers, reaching 70,145, while February saw the lowest number of passengers, reaching 40,914.
Data on domestic mail delivery through the post office. In 2009, 541,912 domestic mail deliveries were recorded. The most common type of mail delivery was regular mail, followed by special express mail, and express mail.
Cirebon's economy is influenced by its strategic geographic location and natural resource characteristics, so its economic structure is dominated by the manufacturing industry, trade, hotels and restaurants, transportation and communications, and services. Tomé Pires, in his Suma Oriental (around 1513), mentioned Cirebon as one of the trading centers on the island of Java. After Cirebon was taken over by the Dutch East Indies government in 1859, the port of Cirebon was designated as a transit point for export-import goods and a center of political control for the interior of Java.
Until 2001, the economic contribution to Cirebon City was primarily from the manufacturing industry (41.32%), followed by the trade, hotel, and restaurant sector (29.8%), the transportation and communications sector (13.56%), and the services sector (6.06%). Other sectors (9.26%) included mining, agriculture, construction, electricity, and gas, each contributing an average of 2-3%.
One form of informal sector business is street vendors. Cirebon City, a frequent target for urbanization, has a significant number of street vendors every year. While this phenomenon is encouraging, it demonstrates the dynamism of the grassroots economy. However, if not managed properly, it can create serious problems in public order and spatial planning.
The multinational cigarette company, British American Tobacco (BAT), was once a cigarette manufacturer in Cirebon. However, in 2010, to increase production efficiency, it relocated its Cirebon factory to Malang.
Cirebon City has 12 shophouse complexes, 13 plaza and mall buildings and 12 traditional markets.
Cirebon City has several shopping centers including Cirebon Mall in the Old Town area (BAT) on Syarief Abdurahman Street, CSB Mall (Cirebon Super Block) located in the center of Cirebon City on DR. Cipto Mangunkusumo Street with an area of 6.2 ha, Grage Mall located on Tentara Pelajar Street, Giant Hypermarket located around the Bima Stadium area on Brigjen Dharsono Street (By-Pass), and around Rajawali Street, Plaza Yogya Siliwangi on Siliwangi Street, Plaza Yogya Grand Center on Karanggetas Street, Cirebon Wholesale Center (PGC), Asia Plaza, Surya Plaza, Carrefour SuperStore on Cipto Street, Gunung Sari Trade Center (GTC), Balong Indah Plaza and Plaza Index “Ace Hardware”.
In the first quarter of 2010, Cirebon experienced the highest inflation rate compared to other cities in West Java. The driving factors behind the increase were transportation, communications and services, finance, education, tourism, and sports.
Cirebon City's transportation sector experienced relatively high inflation due to increases in non-subsidized fuel prices and financial services fees. Meanwhile, course/training fees in Cirebon City were relatively high compared to other cities, driving high inflation in the education sector.
In the 2007 budget year, revenue reached 510.2 billion rupiah, while in the 2010 budget year it increased to 758.7 billion rupiah.
The largest revenue post is still obtained from the Balancing Fund section, namely 489.3 billion rupiah or around 64.5 percent of all regional revenue, the second largest revenue comes from the Regional Original Revenue Section, namely 115.2 billion rupiah or 15.2 percent of all regional revenue.
The amount of this Balancing Fund is primarily a contribution from the General Allocation Fund (DAU) to the Cirebon City regional government, which in 2010 reached 412 billion rupiah, or 84.2 percent of total revenue. In the 2010 budget year, for the realization of indirect and direct expenditures, indirect and direct expenditures were recorded at 419.4 billion rupiah and direct expenditures at 350.7 billion rupiah. Of the indirect expenditures, the largest use of funds was for personnel expenditures, amounting to 347 billion rupiah. Meanwhile, for direct expenditures, the largest item was for goods and services, amounting to 118.2 billion rupiah.
In 2010, there were 244 cooperatives in Cirebon City with 29,089 active members. This figure decreased from the previous year, when there were 271 cooperatives.[22]
Electricity
Electricity not only supports economic activities such as industry, but also improves the welfare of the population by making it easier for people to carry out their activities.
From the electricity data presented, it was recorded that the number of electricity users reached 1,000,000 customers in 2010, with details of approximately 89.04 percent being household customers (R) and 7.73 percent being business customers (B), with approximately 2.05 percent being social tariff group customers (S). Industrial customers were only 0.16 percent. Installed power in 2008 was 133,655,500 KVA.[23]
Drinking Water
Providing drinking water is crucial for a city like Cirebon, which borders the coastline, and where most water sources tend to be unsuitable for drinking. Therefore, the availability of water from the Regional Water Company (PDAM) is crucial.
Water production by PDAM Cirebon City, in the period 2006-2009 the amount of drinking water production tends to fluctuate, in 2006 water production reached 23,425,965 m3, then became 26,245,072 m3 (2007) and fell in 2008 to 25,432,691 m3, and rose again to 25,455,687 m3 in 2008. For water distributed in 2009 reached 18,682,035 m3. With details, drinking water distributed to households amounted to 13,554,294 m3; hotels, tourist attractions and industry amounted to 2,552,822 m3; Social Agencies/Hospitals amounted to 733,357 m3.
The sales value of drinking water in 2009 reached 27,994 million rupiah, down 2.07 percent compared to 2008. The largest sales value was generated from sales to household customers with a value of 17,793 million rupiah or 63.56 percent of total sales.[24]
Nearly 93% of the population has been served by clean water services from PDAM Cirebon, the majority of clean water customers in this city are households (90.37% or 59,006) of the total number of existing connections (65,287).
Since the Dutch East Indies government, Cirebon City has had a hospital called Oranje, which was officially opened on August 31, 1921 and began operating on September 1, 1921.
In 2009, Cirebon City had approximately 6 general hospitals, 4 maternity hospitals, 21 community health centers (Puskesmas), 15 sub-community health centers (Puskesmas Pembantu), 20 mobile health centers (Puskesmas Keliling), 85 pharmacies, and 31 drug stores. The medical staff included approximately 94 specialist doctors, 118 general practitioners, 45 dentists, 847 nurses, and 278 midwives.
|
formal education |
State and private elementary or middle schools |
State and private junior high schools or MTs |
Public and private high schools or Islamic high schools |
State and private SMKs |
College |
|
Number of units |
160 |
52 |
58 |
19 |
14 |
As a popular tourist destination in West Java, Cirebon offers a wealth of charm, from historical sites depicting the glory of the Islamic kingdom to the stories of the saints (wali), the Sunan Gunung Jati Tomb Complex on Mount Sembung, about 15 km west of the city center, to the Sang Cipta Rasa Grand Mosque, the At Taqwa Mosque, ancient temples, and Dutch-era buildings. The city also offers a variety of Cirebon culinary specialties and is home to rattan and batik craft centers.
Cirebon is home to two palaces, the Kasepuhan Palace and the Kanoman Palace. Both feature architectural elements combining Islamic, Chinese, and Dutch cultural elements. The palace buildings typically face north and are often flanked by a mosque. Each palace has a town square as a gathering place, a market, and a tiger statue in the garden or front yard, symbolizing King Siliwangi, a central figure in the founding of the Cirebon kingdom. Another characteristic feature is the authentic Chinese porcelain plates that adorn the walls. Some of the plates are said to have been imported from Europe when Cirebon was a central trading port on Java.
Cirebon City has several park areas including Sunyaragi Water Park and Ade Irma Suryani Park. Sunyaragi Water Park has advanced water flow technology for its time, water flows between terraces where the king's princesses preened, green lawns where knights trained, plus towers and special rooms with doors made of water curtains. Meanwhile, some of the city's typical dishes as part of culinary tourism include: Sega Jamblang, Sega Lengko, Empal Gentong, Docang, Tahu Gejrot, Kerupuk Melarat, Mendoan, Sate Beber, Mi Koclok, Empal Asem, Cirebon Fried Rice, Cirebon Ketoprak, Cirebon Chicken Porridge, Shrimp Crackers and so on.
Good places to visit
The culture inherent in the people of Cirebon City is a blend of various cultures that have emerged, creating a unique character. This is evident in several typical Cirebon performances, including Tarling, the Cirebon Mask Dance, Sintren, Gembyung Art, and Cirebonan Sandiwara.
This city also has several handicrafts including Cirebon Masks, Glass Paintings, Rattan Flowers and Batik.
One of the distinctive features of batik from Cirebon that is not found elsewhere is the Mega Mendung motif, which is a motif shaped like clumps of clouds that usually form a frame for the main image.
The Mega Mendung motif was created by Prince Cakrabuana (1452-1479), and is still frequently used today. The motif was influenced by the Cirebon palaces. Initially, Cirebon batik was known only within the palace circles. Today, the Mega Mendung motif is widely used in Cirebon by various groups. Furthermore, there are also batik motifs adapted to the characteristics of coastal communities.
Source: Cirebon City Site, Wikipedia
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