JP\/18\/IRMA<\/p>\n
Ade Irma Suryani Nasution Traffic Garden:
\nfrom a Tropical Garden to Traffic Garden
\n
\nArya Dipa
\nContributor\/Bandung
\n
\nSeveral young housewives were absorbed in watching their children
\nhaving fun with bumper cars on a fine Sunday at Ade Irma Suryani
\nNasution Traffic Garden (TLLAISN), on Jl. Belitung No. 1,
\nBandung.<\/p>\n
About 10 bumper cars measuring about one meter by one meter
\nwere moving about, sometimes crashing into one another and
\ncausing the children and their mothers to burst into laughter,
\nwhile the three people in charge of collecting the tickets and
\ntaking care of the arena looked on.<\/p>\n
They would interfere only when the toy cars were entangled and
\ncould not move any longer.<\/p>\n
Similar traffic congestion was also found in the cycling
\narena. Many children were neither aware of the traffic lights nor
\nthe single or double lanes of the track.<\/p>\n
Dewi Indriyani, deputy administrator of TLLAISN Foundation,
\nsaid that the traffic garden was specially designed in 1956 to
\nallow children to learn how to use the roads properly.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the chaos you witness in this arena reflects
\nthe traffic jams that you can find in Bandung city.<\/p>\n
This traffic garden is not to be found elsewhere in Indonesia.
\nBesides, with its large and rare trees, this garden, called
\nInsulinde Garden (the Indonesia Garden) during the Dutch colonial
\nadministration, also serves as the lungs of Bandung city.<\/p>\n
You can find in this garden angsana, mahogany, acacia and
\n\"sausage\" trees (Kigelia aethiopica) or Leverworstboom in Dutch.<\/p>\n
In an interview in the May 135th edition of Mooi Bandoeng
\n(Beautiful Bandung), a Dutch landscape architect that helped
\ndesign Insulinde Garden, Dr. L. Van der Pijl, said that the seeds
\nof these \"sausage\" trees, measuring between 7 meters and 17
\nmeters, were stolen by a Dutch resident of Bandung while on a
\ntrip in Honolulu, Hawaii. They are called sausage trees because
\nof the shape of the tree.<\/p>\n
Other trees you can find in this garden include Ki Hujan (the
\nrain tree, Samanea saman Merr, Enterolobium saman Prain,
\nPithecolobium saman Benth) or Regenboom in Dutch. This tree is
\nunique in that its leaves will shut and produce drops of water
\nwhen the weather turns foul and the wind blows strongly.<\/p>\n
From tropical garden to traffic garden<\/p>\n
This garden, measuring about 3.5 hectares in area, is now
\nbeing pushed way aside by the rapid progress of business in North
\nBandung.<\/p>\n
In a book titled Semerak Bunga di Bandung Raya (Fragrance of
\nFlowers in Greater Bandung), the late Haryoto Kunto, an expert in
\nBandung history, said that in 1898 the plot of land bordered by
\nJl. Aceh in the north, Jl. Belitung in the South, Jl. Kalimantan
\nin the east and Jl. Sumatra in the west, used to be just a swamp
\nwhere bamboo trees grew.<\/p>\n
As it was then part of a military compound -- it now faces the
\nheadquarters of Military Region Command III Siliwangi -- this
\nplot of land was often used as a site for military ceremonies and
\nphysical exercise for the soldiers.<\/p>\n
However, between 1915 and 1919, the Dutch did not feel
\ncomfortable when the wet season changed into the dry season. The
\nweather was no longer cool while the wind was blowing hard. In
\nthe dry season, the sun was very hot. That's why the Dutch
\nresidents of Bandung thought of establishing a public garden.<\/p>\n
It is believed that the name Insulinde was conceived because
\nthe garden was surrounded by roads named after several major
\nislands in Indonesia like Java, Sumatra, Riau, Kalimantan,
\nSulawesi and Bali.<\/p>\n
An association called Bandung Vooruit (Bandung Onward) was set
\nup in 1920 as the fruit of the cooperation between the plantation
\nowners, usually referred to as Preangerplanters and Gemeente
\nBandung, the Bandung municipality administration. This
\nassociation, which was assigned to establish a public garden that
\nwould bring cool air to Bandung city, decided to establish a
\ntropen aaccent or a tropical garden that would remind people of
\nthe rich tropical forest resources in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Besides Dr. L van der Pijl, other landscape architects
\ninvolved in this undertaking were Dr. R. Teuscher and Dr. W.
\nDocters van Leeuwen. The main concept was to design it as an open
\ngarden where city residents could walk freely and breathe fresh
\nair.<\/p>\n
They then selected the tropical plants that would be grown
\nthere. A canal runs through the gardens to drain excess water. To
\nmake the land humid and fertile, a lotus pond was made. Dr. L.
\nvan der Pijl noted in 1935 that about 90 species of trees and
\nflowering plants were grown there.<\/p>\n
After Indonesia became independent, the garden was handed over
\nto the Indonesian government by the Dutch colonial
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
After the handover, the management of the garden was left to
\nTraffic Security Agency (BKLL) in 1954. This agency later took
\nthe initiative to turn the garden into a place where children
\ncould learn about traffic.<\/p>\n
The traffic garden was opened to the public on March 1, 1958.
\nInside there were all the facilities that children could use to
\nlearn how to be proper road users. Right after entering the gate,
\na visitor can find a large board containing all the traffic
\nsigns.<\/p>\n
The establishment of the traffic garden reflects the synergy
\nof all elements in the community in their pursuit of a green area
\nthat can be educative.<\/p>\n
Dewi, who has been deputy administrator of TLLAISN for the
\npast decade, said that school children, cinema owners, employees,
\nsoldiers, automotive companies, policemen as well as other
\ncompanies and shops in Bandung raised funds to build the garden.<\/p>\n
The state railway company, Djawatan Kereta Api, now PT Kereta
\nApi Indonesia, donated a mini train with two locomotives. The
\nmini train is still functioning today.<\/p>\n
\"Back in 1958 the mini train used the engines of a Willis jeep
\nfor its locomotive. But in 1995 we replaced the engines with
\nthose of a Kijang van. However, this open-door train is still the
\noriginal one made in Yogyakarta,\" Dewi said proudly.<\/p>\n
Aside from a mini train, the traffic garden also has a
\ndraaimolen (merry-go-round), a swimming pool, a child care center
\nand an arena for cycling and bumper cars.<\/p>\n
Self-managed<\/p>\n
To ensure that the management of the traffic garden would be
\nmore effective, the Bandung Traffic Garden Foundation was set up
\non June 26, 1960.<\/p>\n
The traffic garden, which, since 1966, has been named after
\nAde Irma Suryani Nasution, one of the victims of the aborted
\nSept. 30, 1965 coup attempt, is now under the management of this
\nfoundation.<\/p>\n
It is certainly no easy job to look after the traffic garden,
\nwhich is now close to half a century old, and the old trees
\nthere. According to Dewi, the operational cost of running the
\ngarden, including the salaries of some 50 employees, adds up to
\nno less than Rp 61 million a month.<\/p>\n
\"Despite their low pay, the employees have a strong sense of
\nbelonging. They check that the merry-go-round and the train
\nengines are well-oiled every week,\" she said.<\/p>\n
As for the old trees, Dewi said that they were actually easy
\nto look after. These trees are regularly trimmed and the leaves
\nand garbage scattering around them are removed every day.<\/p>\n
The running of this traffic garden relies heavily on the
\nproceeds from ticket sales.<\/p>\n
On weekdays a ticket costs Rp 2,000 while at weekends and on
\nholidays it costs Rp 3,000 per person. Luckily, an average of 500
\nvisitors a day come to the traffic garden on weekdays while at
\nweekends it is visited by some 3,000 visitors a day. During Idul
\nFitri holiday after the fasting month, for example, the number of
\nvisitors may even reach 10,000 people a day.<\/p>\n
\"As this garden is also considered one of the city parks, we
\nreceive a subsidy of Rp 30 million a year from the budget of
\nBandung municipal administration,\" Dewi added.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp18irma-1447899208",
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