Properly preserving our heritage

Mariani Dewi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 01/06/2009 11:09 AM  

"Don't be reluctant to get burned by the sunlight when you visit the houses of old landlords in the suburb of Jakarta, or when you go to Tugu *in North Jakarta* to go sightseeing, or to go to the cemetery at the court of As-Salafiah mosque in Jatinegara, and even so when you take a boat to the historic islands at the Jakarta Bay. Your sweat is nothing compared to the history behind these places," Adolf Heuken, a German missionary who wrote a book on historic sites in Jakarta, suggested in the introduction to his 1996 writing. 

"When the citizens of a city do not know and respect its history, its purpose and its genius loci, where the people fight for themselves and themselves only, the solidarity between them to keep the security, cleanliness, environment and ownership will be hard to grow," he continued. 

Properly preserving heritage sites for people to visit has been a struggle in Indonesia, including in the capital Jakarta. The lack of city planning, a dearth of public funding and no monitoring of preservation efforts despite regulations are all challenges thrown up to preserving the city's visible legacy. Understanding the importance of these sites among the public and officials is also low. 

Budi Lim, an architect who cares about preservation, said he has helplessly watched many worthy buildings get torn down. 

"In the 1980s, the Senen Triangle was revamped. Almost all the old buildings were pulled down. In the past different ethnic groups lived there: Indians, Malays, Chinese. I went there so often to watch people's exchanges on the street and to admire the architecture. See what it's turned out to be now. It's lost its identity," he said. 

Showing The Jakarta Post around his home office, Budi pointed to various objects he has collected, relics from torn-down buildings -- a door from a temple, a pillar from one old house, a roof ornament from another. 

"There are many more upstairs. I've never purchased anything from a building that's still standing. But if there was no way to save it, I would buy up some parts as memorabilia. I have things from all over Jakarta, north to south, east to west. So many buildings have been torn down, leaving not the slightest mark," he said. 

Even if the owners wanted to keep their buildings standing in their original form, most lacked the funding and the knowledge to do it properly. 

A volunteer group, Concerned Citizens for Heritage Buildings, said they planned to raise funds to help out owners of historic houses who are determined to preserve their buildings but cannot afford to do it themselves. 

"Still, I think we can only help one or two owners a year at a maximum," one member Andipo Wiratama said. 

In addition to private efforts, the public needs government involvement because preservation goes beyond just maintaining particular buildings. It means preserving the environs and the local culture as well, according to UNESCO's 2007 publication Asia Conserved. 

"The body is the physical fabric of the heritage site in its original state and setting. The soul, the spirit of place, is the sum of the site's history, traditions, memories, myths, associations and continuity of meanings connected with people and use over time. Collectively, these tell the story of the place, generate its identity and give it emotional impact," Laurence Loh, a Malaysian architect, wrote in the guideline. 

Preservation techniques, though not simple, can be learned and are usually not the biggest hurdle to conservation, Budi said. The main challenge was for preservationists to give old sites a new role in the living city.