Jakarta Gets Kota Tua Repainted for Free, Plus Four Public Buses

Jakarta Globe, Deti Mega Purnamasari & Eko Prasetyo, May 26, 2016

The Jakarta administration has signed an agreement on Wednesday (25/05) with
 a Dutch multinational company for the repainting of Kota Tua in North Jakarta
and several other public buildings and structures in the city. (Antara Photo/Aprillio Akbar)

Jakarta. The Jakarta administration has signed an agreement on Wednesday (25/05) with a Dutch multinational company for the repainting of Kota Tua in North Jakarta and several other public buildings and structures in the city.

Jakarta regional secretary Saefullah signed the agreement with Jun de Dios, president director of AkzoNobel, the company that produces the Dulux brand of paints.

The painting process will be divided into two phases, with the first involving the Jakarta History Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics and the Kota Intan Bridge in Kota Tua. The three structures will be painted in a livelier color and 50 trash cans made from the empty paint cans will be placed around the historic area.

The second phase will involve repainting of the Maritime Museum in Sunda Kelapa, North Jakarta, and the Wayang Museum, also in Kota Tua. This phase will be expanded to other parts of the capital and it will include the repainting of bus shelters, pedestrian bridges, overpasses and underpasses in lively colors.

"We are happy to see the program proceed, as it will maintain the historical buildings, which are essential factors in preserving a cultural heritage," de Dios said after the signing.

The Jakarta administration has also received four double-decker buses from the company.

"I am the most expensive model in Jakarta. For wearing a Dulux shirt and a hat, I get paid four buses and Kota Tua's revitalization," Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known as Ahok, said jokingly during Wednesday's ceremony.

"You can have me wear these [clothing items] for a week, but then you must give me seven buses," he added.

One foot on sea, one on shore

The Jakarta Post, P.J. Leo

Many writers have used references to the vital energy of ports, where workers scramble up masts as ships lie at anchor, taking on and discharging cargo.

Sunda Kelapa Port in northern Jakarta is part of the Old Town heritage site. It was built between 1634 and 1645 by the Dutch governor general J.P. Coen, whose ambition was to recreate Amsterdam in Batavia (Jakarta).

However, long before the Dutch administration reigned the East Indies (Indonesia then), the port had become the docking point for early European merchants, largely the Portuguese.

Now the port is home to inter-city trade, with ships departing and arriving from destinations in Java, as well as Kalimantan and Sulawesi islands, around the clock.

Traditional Bugis schooners or phinisi are a fixture at Sunda Kelapa, their silhouettes creating a distinctive image, from dawn until dusk.

Maritime Museum set to officially reopen

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakartans and tourists alike will once again be able to enjoy the city's Maritime Museum when it officially reopens Friday.

Located next to Sunda Kelapa port, the museum was forced to close its doors when a series of high tides hit the area in November.

Floodwaters reached as high as 60 centimeters, forcing the museum's management team to move relics to the second floor of the building.

Museum head Dewi Rudiati said a series of renovations were undertaken at the museum while it was temporarily closed.

"We made minor changes, such as repainting the walls. Now we are rearranging our displays," she said.

Built in the 17th century, the museum originally served as a Dutch spice warehouse. The museum is now home to about 1,800 relics.

Several Japanese cargo ship replicas are also due to arrive at the museum in a few months.

"Previously we had on average between 1,000 and 1,500 visitors per month. We hope we can continue to attract visitors despite our limited budget," said Dewi.

She said museum staff were currently creating information labels in Indonesian and English to attract more foreign visitors.

She said in June, the museum will hold an exhibition titled "Jakarta, a city that started as a port", which will feature replicas of various ships that have docked in the Sunda Kelapa port over the years.

Lili, a visitor to the museum Wednesday, said she wanted to learn more about the museum after she heard about a wedding ceremony held there.

"This is the first time I've visited the museum," she said.

The resident of Kampung Baru in North Jakarta said she was very satisfied with her visit, despite the fact renovations were still continuing. (tif)

Tours revealing Jakarta's forgotten heritage

Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The peeling cream exterior of state junior high school SMP Negeri 14 is the last remaining example of early 20th century art deco architecture in the Jatinegara area.

The school building, with its sparely adorned facade, is still standing. But the courtyard in front has been cut down to the size of a small ragged basketball court to make way for the expansion of Jl. Jatinegara.

The building has never been named as a cultural heritage site.

It's only one of a number of buildings in the bustling Jatinegara district aging back to the Dutch colonial period which stand in disrepair.

"It's very difficult because most of the old buildings here are privately owned and have very few historical records," the Jakarta Cultural and Museum Agency's head of building supervising affairs, Candriyan Attahiyat, said while leading a public tour of historical Jatinegara buildings Sunday.

The event was part of the "Jakarta Trail" program, which is run by the Historia Community, a group for history and heritage enthusiasts.

Besides its fame as one of the busiest areas in Jakarta, where thousands of lower and middle-income Jakartans go to shop, Jatinegara also boasts historic Gothic and Chinese architecture as well as art deco and Dutch colonial buildings.

This rich architectural and cultural heritage, however, has not received the same conservation attention as posh Menteng or even Jakarta's old town, Kota.

Jatinegara has eight subdistricts, including Bali Mester, Bidaracina, Cipinang Besar Utara, Cipinang Besar Selatan, Cipinang Cempedak, Cipinang Muara, Kampung Melayu, and Rawa Bunga, all of which have a history of development stretching back to the mid-17th century.

At that time, Cornelis Senen, a man of mixed Portuguese-Banda Island descent, was commissioned by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to open the then forested area.

The area was later named Meester Cornelis in honor of his efforts. Cornelis was granted ownership of much of the local land, opening a teak plantation to service the fledgling town of Batavia.

The name of the area was changed to Jatinegara during the Japanese occupation.

There are different accounts of the origin of the name Jatinegara. One version says that the area was named after pohon jati, the local term for teak trees.

Another version says prince Ahmad Jayakarta from the Banten Kingdom came up with the name Jatinegara, meaning genuine land, when he establish the Jatinegara Kaum village in Pulogadung, East Jakarta, after the Dutch destroyed his palace in Sunda Kelapa.

There are plenty of legends about the area, but very few clear physical historical records remain. This has hampered the preservation and conservation of historical buildings in the area.

"Even though there are a lot of old buildings here, this isn't considered to be a cultural heritage area. People have forgotten about the history of Jatinegara and don't see it as a cultural site," the founder and chairman of the Historia Community, Asep Kambali, said.

"That's why we want people to learn more about the old buildings in Jatinegara by setting up the Jatinegara tour," he said.

Sunday's foot tour started at the Jatinegara post office on Jl. Matraman Raya. Up to 50 tour participants crossed the pedestrian bridge in front of the post office to Jenderal Urip Sumohardjo soccer field, behind which lay a residential area with a number of Dutch colonial houses.

The participants continued to the art deco building of SMP Negeri 14, passing the Jatinegara bird market as a shortcut to the Jatinegara railway tracks. Those that were so inclined indulged their childhood interest in locomotives inside the area's old train depot, where they helped the workers to turn a locomotive 180 degrees on a 1912 turning device.

A the device places the locomotive on a metal prop above a circular pit. The handles of the metal prop would then pushed by four men to rotate the locomotive.

From the Jatinegara Station, the tour continued to the abandoned neo-Gothic East Jakarta Military Command and on to the traditional Jatinegara Wholesale Market and the Koinonia Church on Jl. Matraman Raya.

"We hope this tour can bring more people to be concerned about the city's history," Asep said.