Depok

There are two possible origins of the name 'Depok'. The first is that it the region was already known as Depok when the land was bought by Cornelis Chastelein, a senior official in the Dutch East India Company in 1696 and that

On 18 May 1696, a former VOC officer Cornelis Chastelein bought land with an area of 12.44 km², 6.2% the area of today's Depok. Besides cultivating the area with industrial plants with the help of the locals, Chastelein was active as a missionary, preaching Christianity to the indigenous Indonesians. To this end, he established a local congregation named De Eerste Protestante Organisatie van Christenen (DEPOC). In the 1950s, the claim that this acronym led to the modern name for Depok emerged among the community of people from Depok living in the Netherlands.[4]An alternative explanation for the name is that it comes from the Indonesian word padepokan, meaning 'shrine', as the location had been used as a religious retreat before Chastelein's purchase of the land. [5]

Before his death on 28 June 1714, Chastelein had written a will that freed the slave families of Depok and gave them pieces of his land, converting slaves into landlords. In 1714, the 12 slave families became landlords (forever as given to them with entitlement deeds of the owner Chastelien in his will) and freed men, women, and children. The freed slaves are also referred to as the Mardijker's – the word Merdeka meaning freedom in Bahasa Indonesia. June 28 is designated as Depokse Daag (Depok Day) by the original Depok family, and on 28 June 2014, commemorating 300 years, they formally opened a 3-meter height monument on its own land, but it was prohibited by the Government as it referred to Dutch colonialization.[6]

The 12 original Depok family names are:[7]

The original slave families of Depok are of Balinese, Ambonese, Buginese, Sundanese and Portuguese Indo, i.e., Mestizo and Mardijker descent. Isakh, Jacob, Jonathans, Joseph, and Samuel were family names baptized by Chastelein after the slave families converted to Protestant Christianity. The other families retained their original names and might have been (Roman Catholic) Christian already before joining Chastelein's Protestant church. Descendants of the original Depok families with the exception of the Sadokh family, still live in Indonesia, the Netherlands, Norway, Canada and the United States.[8][7]

In 1871, the colonial government gave Depok a special status allowing the area to form its own government and president. The ruling no longer stood after 1952, where the Depok presidency ceded its control of Depok to the Indonesian government except for a few areas.

During the Bersiap (Indonesian civil war and war for independence from The Netherlands) period of 1945 much of Depok was destroyed and many of its inhabitants killed by 'Pemuda'.[9] Many of the original Depok families fled for their lives from Indonesia during the Indonesian revolution and now live in the Netherlands as part of the Indo community there.[10]

In March 1982, Depok was reclassified as an administrative city within Bogor Regency and, in 1999, as a city headed by a mayor. Then on 20 April 1999, the city of Depok was unified with some neighbouring districts of Bogor Regency to form an autonomous city of Depok (independent of the Regency) with an area of 199.91 km².[11] This date is commemorated as the date of the establishment of the city.

Depok skyline in 2013

Depok is headed by a mayor, with a legislative assembly. Both the mayor and the members of the legislative assembly are elected by direct vote.

Administrative districts

Administration of Depok City

The city of Depok is divided into eleven districts (kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 census[2] and the 2020 census,[3] together with the official estimates as at mid 2022.[1] The table also includes the number of administrative urban villages (all classed as kelurahan) in each district and its postal codes.

Name of District (kecamatan)	Area in km2	Pop'n census 2010	Pop'n census 2020	Pop'n estimate mid 2022	No. of kelurahan	Post codes
Sawangan	26.07	123,571	178,900	191,700	7	16511-16519
Bojongsari	19.41	99,735	135,700	143,600	7	16516-16518
Pancoran Mas	18.05	210,514	245,000	251,600	6	16431-16436
Cipayung	11.375	127,917	171,600	181,140	5	16436-16439
Sukmajaya	17.37	232,308	252,500	255,960	6	16411-16418
Cilodong	15.38	125,014	168,200	177,640	5	16413-16415
Cimanggis	21.78	241,979	252,000	253,330	6	16451-16454
Tapos	33.43	216,215	263,400	272,890	7	16451-16459
Beji	14.63	165,903	171,700	172,410	6	16421-16426
Limo	11.89	87,953	115,700	121,700	4	16512-16515
Cinere	10.53	107,461	101,700	101,390	4	16512-16514
Total city	199.91	1,738,570	2,056,400	2,123,349	63

University of Indonesia

The following universities are in Depok:

• University of Indonesia
• Gunadarma University
• Politeknik Tugu
• Jakarta State Polytechnic
• Sekolah Tinggi Teknologi Terpadu Nurul Fikri
• Muhammadiyah University of Depok
• Bina Sarana Informatika

Depok has several private language schools, namely EF English First, Kinderfield Highfield Depok, International Language Programs (ILP), Lembaga Indonesia Amerika (LIA), The British Institute (TBI), Lembaga Pendidikan Indonesia - Amerika (LPIA), and several other smaller establishments. These are all along Margonda Raya and Cinere Raya, the two main roads that pass through Depok. In Depok City itself, for Madrasah Tsanawiyah (MTs) there are around 72 schools.[16][17][18]

Mahakam Stadium, homebase of Depok United FC

Depok is the home town of the Persikad Depok and Depok United FC football team who currently plays in the Liga 2.

Depok is twinned with:

• Ōsaki, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan[19]
• Calabanga, Camarines Sur, Philippines

• Depok Lama, the old town of Depok
• List of twin towns and sister cities in Indonesia
• 2020 Depok mayoral election

• Media related to Depok at Wikimedia Commons
• Depok travel guide from Wikivoyage
• (in Indonesian) Official website
• Jakarta Globe