City heritage documents missing<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A senior observer of old Jakarta says that the
\ncity museum and restoration agency must take responsibility for
\nthe whereabouts of the bulk of her studies on city heritage.<\/p>\n
Annegret Handojosoemarto, who for 21 years has been involved
\nin archeological excavations and translations of books on old
\nJakarta, said many of her studies, handed over to the agency
\nyears ago, have been reported missing.<\/p>\n
\"I'm very upset that the papers have not been handled
\nproperly. The materials could be precious sources for researchers
\non city heritage and for young people seeking stories of the
\npast,\" said the German-born widow of the late senior reporter for
\nAntara, J.A. Soejanarko Handojosoemarto.<\/p>\n
Interviewed at her home in North Jakarta's Pluit area,
\nAnnegret recalled that she and 13 colleagues conducted research
\non historical buildings and sites between 1974 and 1995 at the
\nrequest of the city administration.<\/p>\n
The projects included data collection at the Jakarta
\nHistorical Museum in West Jakarta and the Maritime Museum in
\nNorth Jakarta and excavations of archeological sites in Tugu
\narea, Onrust Island and Cipir Island in North Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Annegret, now 62, translated numerous books during her career.
\nShe translated works by Dutch authors, such as clergyman Francois
\nValentijn, who wrote six volumes on places in the archipelago
\nvisited by VOC (former Dutch trading company) in the 17th
\ncentury, A. Blonk on Cornelis de Houtman, who led the first Dutch
\nvoyage to Indonesia, and Nio Joe Lan on the early Chinese
\ncommunity in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
According to Annegret, she was informed by certain people that
\ncopies of her studies were missing from the agency. They asked
\nher to help locate the material for use in their business.<\/p>\n
The people were told that translations by Annegret are missing
\nand none of the agency's staff know of their whereabouts.<\/p>\n
\"I was so stupid that I did not keep copies of all the works
\nfor myself,\" she said, showing the few copies she kept.<\/p>\n
No one doubts that seeking data on city heritage is a
\ndifficult task due to the lack of available material.<\/p>\n
Scholars and researchers often have complained about this
\nproblem. Some of them even have gone as far as the Netherlands,
\nFrance, Portugal and other countries to collect information.<\/p>\n
When asked to comment on Annegret's remarks, head of the
\nagency's archeology and history division, Candrian Attahiyat
\nadmitted the fact and lamented the lack of curiosity among the
\nagency's officials on the importance of such historical records.<\/p>\n
\"Sometimes data has not been well managed and has even
\ndisappeared when officials in charge were transferred to other
\nposts.<\/p>\n
Worst, those who replace them seem to have no curiosity about
\nsuch material,\" he said in a regretful voice.<\/p>\n
Candrian suggested that numerous moves by the agency from one
\noffice to another also lead to disappearance of material.<\/p>\n
Annegret said that she was too emotional to consider the loss
\nof her works. \"I worked very hard and as detailed as possible
\ntranslating the historical works,\" she said.<\/p>\n
She cited one of her works about the Tugu area, where she
\nfound an abundance of data from old inhabitants of Portuguese
\ndescent, their traditional keroncong music, and an ancient
\nchurch.<\/p>\n
\"I had a complete set of notes of the materials which were
\nwritten in Malay, Dutch and Portuguese. It's so regrettable that
\nin the end all of them have disappeared,\" Annegret said.<\/p>\n
In completing the work, Annegret and her colleagues had to
\nspend several nights and days on Onrust Island. They even had to
\ntravel as far as Central Java to collect reliable data.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Annegret, a former member of the Ganesha
\nsociety of foreign women focusing on heritage data collection,
\nsaid she had no accurate data on the precise number of books that
\nshe had produced so far. (ind)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/city-heritage-documents-missing-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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