The greater Jakarta area (Jabodetabek) represents a heterogeneous urban space characterized by an incessant influx of population. For the old residents, however, there is a strong sense of identity regarding ethnicity as well as hamlets of their origin. Betawi is a term to refer to the indigenous population residing in the city and the surrounding area since the time of Batavia, but the definition of Betawi as an ethnic category has long been subject to state intervention. However, the notion of Betawi Ethnicity, as it emerges in the immediate social settings, always does so in relation to the sense of belonging to respective urban hamlets (usually referred to as kampung). Boundaries of such hamlets sometimes overlap with administrative boundaries such as Urban Sub-districts (kelurahan), but at other times do not.

This paper first exemplifies what constitutes Betawi peoples’ strong identity for their hamlets, focusing on one such kampung located in the suburb area of Depok. It investigates the social constitution and everyday practices in this kampung in order to explain what makes the spontaneous hamlet remain so lucid as the basic unit for people’s identities and for their social activities. In the case examined in this paper, relatively stable aspects of the hamlet’s social structure seem to ensure the uniqueness of the community. However, expression of their identity is most ostensive in the residents’ aspiration for changes in accordance with the vicissitudes of their lifeworld.

The paper examines cases where a dialectic relation is observed between the hamlet imagery and the actual social activities. Spontaneous social activities, so long as they are conducted with kampung as the focal point, reinforce the uniqueness of the community. The paper also examines what it means to inherit or preserve local traditions. People in this kampung are quite aware that changes have to be made in order to preserve their culture. An appropriate understanding on the essence of a tradition naturally entails alteration to it, which is an indispensable prerequisite for traditions to survive. After all, this perpetual attitude and incessant aspiration towards changes in traditions is what ensures the consolidation of hamlet imagery and makes it last.