Bekasi Regency in the context of "East Jakarta"

Bekasi (Indonesian pronunciation: [bəˈkasi] , Betawi: Bèkasi; Bekasih, Sundanese: ᮘᮨᮊᮞᮤ) is the city with the largest population in the province of West Java, Indonesia, located on the eastern border of Jakarta. It serves as a commuter city within the Greater Jakarta. According to the 2020 Census by Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Bekasi had 2,543,676 inhabitants. The official estimate for mid 2024 was 2,644,058 (comprising 1,327,954 males and 1,316,104 females). It lies within the largest metropolitan area in Indonesia (Jabodetabek). The city is bordered by Bekasi Regency (from which the city was separated administratively on 16 December 1996) to the north and the east, Bogor Regency and Depok City to the south, and the city of East Jakarta to the west.

Bekasi is one of the oldest cities in Indonesia, and has a history of being the capital city of the Kingdom of Tarumanagara. At that time, the name of Bekasi was Dayeuh Sundasembawa or Jayagiri. The earliest evidence of its existence dates from the fifth century according to the Tugu inscription, which describes the name of two rivers that run through the city, i.e. Candrabhaga and Gomati and one of those rivers, i.e. Candrabhaga is the origin of the name Bekasi where the name Candrabhaga evolved into "Bhagasasi" – due to the Sanskrit word candra (which means moon) evolved into Old Sundanese word 'sasi' which also means moon – and then the name Bhagasasi was mis-spelt as "Bhagasi", and then the Dutch colonial government also mis-spelt the name Bhagasi as "Bacassie", and finally it became "Bekasi". During the Dutch East Indies period, Bekasi was a part of Batavia residency. As a dormitory city, many middle-upper class satellite areas have been developed in Bekasi, complete with their own shopping malls, schools, hospitals, club houses, water park, and shuttle bus services to central Jakarta. The large number of multinational companies has apparently attracted many expatriates (mainly Japanese and Korean) to settle in Bekasi.

Betawi people or Batavians (Orang Betawi in Indonesian, meaning "people of Batavia"), are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the city of Jakarta and its immediate outskirts, as such often described as the inhabitants of the city. They are the descendants of the people who inhabited Batavia (the Dutch colonial name of Jakarta) from the 17th century onwards.

The term Betawi people emerged in the 18th century as an amalgamation of various ethnic groups into Batavia. In this modern era, people of various ethnicities, especially Sundanese people, who have long inhabited Greater Jakarta, forgetting their language and switching to Betawi, can also be called Betawi people. Although if they are related by blood, they are more like people who still speak Sundanese language in the outskirts, especially in Bekasi, Bogor, and Tangerang.