Idle Cipanas villa makes comeback<\/p>\n
Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor<\/p>\n
Out of sight from the lines of cars heading to Puncak, the
\nhistoric Cipanas presidential retreat returned briefly to the
\nspotlight on June 5 when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono used
\nit as the venue to honor environmentalists.<\/p>\n
Cipanas villa, which was a favorite retreat for founding
\npresident Sukarno and his family, is part of a 26-hectare forest
\nthat has been named a conservation area.<\/p>\n
Located at the foot of Mount Gede in Cipanas, West Java, some
\n103 kilometers south of Jakarta, the villa was built in 1740
\nduring the Dutch colonial era.<\/p>\n
The name Cipanas means springwater in Sundanese and comes from
\nthe sulfur spring located on the ground's of the villa.<\/p>\n
However, the former peace and beauty of the presidential
\nretreat has been disturbed by the traditional market located just
\n50 meters away, with street vendors and piles of garbage
\nencroaching all the way up to the gates of the villa.<\/p>\n
\"The villa is a local asset. I do not know what the Cianjur
\nregent is doing to resolve this chronic traffic congestion ...
\nthe administration could move the market,\" said Titin, a resident
\nof Cipanas subdistrict, Pacet district.<\/p>\n
Two major events in the country's history occurred at the
\npresidential retreat.<\/p>\n
The first was on Dec. 13, 1965, when Sukarno depreciated the
\nrupiah from Rp 1,000 to Rp 1.<\/p>\n
The second was when Indonesia hosted a three-day summit
\nbetween the Philippine government and the insurgent Moro National
\nLiberation Front from March 14, 1993. The mediator of the talks
\nwas the Organization of the Islamic Conference.<\/p>\n
During his rule, Sukarno built a pavilion on the grounds of
\nthe villa where he wrote his official speeches. The pavilion,
\ndesigned by architects RM Sudarsono and F. Silaban -- the latter
\nthe architect behind the Grand Mosque in Central Jakarta -- has
\nstone walls, from which it derived its name Gedung Bentol (bumpy
\nbuilding).<\/p>\n
Besides the main building and Gedung Bentol, the complex has
\nfive other pavilions, each named after one of the five Pandawa
\nLima brothers in the Mahabharata epic: Yudistira, Bima, Arjuna
\nand the twins Nakula and Sadewa.<\/p>\n
Despite its history the villa has been largely idle in recent
\nyears, except for a newly built tennis court that is sometimes
\nused by politicians on weekends.<\/p>\n
The director of the Cibodas Botanical Gardens, Holif Imamudin,
\nsaid the local administration should help improve the beauty of
\nthe area by replacing a soccer field located across from the
\npalace with a small forest.<\/p>\n
\"The villa is a symbol of the country. There should be a way
\nto solve the traffic problems around here,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/idle-cipanas-villa-makes-comeback-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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