MPR building hides romantic stories<\/p>\n
The Jakarta administration lists buildings as protected not
\nonly based on age, but also according to the history and function
\nof the building. The following article tells the story of a
\nbuilding which has been the site of much of the modern history
\nand romance of Indonesia. It is also one of the few protected
\nbuildings in the capital which has been properly cared for. This
\nis the 11th article in The Jakarta Post series on the
\ncapital's historic buildings, featured in Saturday editions.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): It is the focus of attention for much of the
\ncountry these days.<\/p>\n
It does not have its unique design to thank for this, but its
\nstatus as home of the country's political elite, who gather in
\nits halls to discuss and decide the future of the nation.
\nShortly, this building will witness the election of Indonesia's
\nfourth president.<\/p>\n
Yes, we're talking about the House of Representatives\/People's
\nConsultative Assembly building on Jl. Gatot Subroto in Central
\nJakarta, which is listed as one of the capital's protected
\nbuildings as stipulated in Gubernatorial Decree No. 475\/1993 on
\nJakarta's Protected Cultural Heritage.<\/p>\n
In terms of age, the building is rather young to be a
\nprotected historic building since construction on it was
\ncompleted a mere 26 years before then Jakarta governor Surjadi
\nSoedirdja signed the decree on March 29, 1993.<\/p>\n
The most likely reason the building which is now home to the
\n700 newly elected members of the People's Consultative Assembly
\n(MPR) and the 500-strong House of Representatives (DPR) was given
\nsuch a status is its distinctive shape and its role as the silent
\nwitness to the country's recent glories, disgraces and history.<\/p>\n
The first grand ceremony held at the building was the
\nswearing-in ceremony of president Soeharto some 32 years ago.<\/p>\n
It was this very same building which was engulfed by a sea of
\nstudents, activists and people from all walks of life, who came
\ntogether in May last year to force Soeharto to bring to an end
\nhis 32-year reign.<\/p>\n
Controversy is no stranger to the MPR\/DPR building, which
\nbegan sparking debate when it was still in the planning stages.<\/p>\n
Conefo<\/p>\n
Under the orders of the late president Sukarno in March 1965,
\nindigenous Indonesians were invited to submit their bids and
\ndesigns for the proposed building. One bid was selected and
\nSukarno ordered construction to begin on a prestigious venue for
\nhis Conference of New Emerging Forces, popularly known by the
\nabbreviation Conefo.<\/p>\n
Sukarno ordered the civil engineers working on the project to
\ncomplete construction in no less than 12 months.<\/p>\n
He said the design must be superior to the United Nations
\nheadquarters in New York and the banquet hall should be more
\nelegant than that of the People's Palace in Beijing.<\/p>\n
According to Sukarno, whose daughter Megawati Soekarnoputri is
\nnow a leading presidential candidate, the project had to be
\ncompleted in haste so the building could host the conference for
\n\"progressive revolutionary\" countries, political jargon for
\nsocialist and \"pro-Communist\" nations.<\/p>\n
Sukarno said it was urgent that Conefo be held the following
\nyear.<\/p>\n
All of these events date back to early 1965, when Sukarno
\nannounced the need to establish an international body comprised
\nof newly independent and emerging nations in Asia, Africa and
\nLatin America. The new organization was viewed as a counterforce
\nto the UN, which Sukarno considered to be dominated by the United
\nStates and its Western allies and deaf to the aspirations of
\nnewly independent countries.<\/p>\n
Five years earlier, Sukarno withdrew Indonesia from the UN
\nafter Malaysia was admitted to the UN Security Council.<\/p>\n
The main impediment to realizing Conefo in a year's time was
\nthe monetary crisis which Indonesia was suffering through at the
\ntime.<\/p>\n
Although Sukarno ordered the building completed \"at any cost\",
\nthe engineers realized most of the construction materials had to
\nbe purchased and shipped from overseas, a difficult task during
\nthat time of continued inflation.<\/p>\n
A groundbreaking ceremony was held at the 64-hectare plot of
\nhilly forest land in the vast Senayan complex on April 19, 1965.<\/p>\n
A number of leaders from \"progressive revolutionary\" countries
\nwere invited to attend the ceremony, a testament to Sukarno's
\nambition which would turn into a Herculean task for the engineers
\nand 27,000 laborers.<\/p>\n
Guests included premier Zhou Enlai of China, prime minister
\nKim Il-sung of North Korea and Prince Norodom Sihanouk of
\nCambodia.<\/p>\n
Snake nests<\/p>\n
One of the civil engineers involved in the project, E.D.
\nTangkudung, noted that at least 45,000 cubic meters of earth had
\nto be removed from the site in a two-week period during the rainy
\nseason of March to April 1965 to allow Sukarno to hold his
\ngroundbreaking ceremony.<\/p>\n
Some of the tractors which had operated 24 hours a day could
\nbe seen trapped in the mud, he said.<\/p>\n
\"It was still a densely forested area. One of the hills was
\nfour meters high ... it was also home to numerous snake nests,\"
\nTangkudung recalled.<\/p>\n
A number of foreign architects doubted construction on the
\nbuilding could be finished within 12 months.<\/p>\n
A funny episode occurred in the early days of the building's
\nconstruction. Experts in Spain, who were calculating the strength
\nof the construction works by computers, and experts in Germany
\nwho had been hired to make a scale model, were stunned when they
\nwere informed that the foundation of the Conefo building had been
\nlaid.<\/p>\n
\"They were surprised,\" recalled Noerpontjo, then a young
\narchitect who was assisting Sujudi and Sutami, the two engineers
\nwho were entrusted by Sukarno to design the building.<\/p>\n
As has been widely documented, the skepticism of many people,
\nincluding foreign architects, was well founded. The building
\ncould not be finished on schedule, even with Sukarno constantly
\nhovering overhead in a helicopter inspecting the work.<\/p>\n
Construction was postponed following the abortive coup by the
\nIndonesian Communist Party in September 1965.<\/p>\n
At the time, the foundation and frame had been completed and
\nthe assembly hall was nearing completion.<\/p>\n
It was Soeharto, after taking over the presidency from
\nSukarno, who instructed work on the building resume in 1967. Only
\nnow the building was not to serve as the site for Conefo, but it
\nwas to house the country's highest legislative body.<\/p>\n
It remains unclear why the planned underground shopping and
\noffice arcade and a bridge that resembled the Semanggi cloverleaf
\nwere never realized.<\/p>\n
A bra<\/p>\n
In the early days after its completion, there was a race to
\nchristen the distinctive and first modern building in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
A number of people remarked that the building resembled a bra.
\nOthers accused the architects of copying the Berlin Stadthaus
\ncongress hall, noting that Sujudi studied in Germany.<\/p>\n
At a glance, the buildings in Senayan and Berlin share some
\nsimilarities, particularly their mammoth domes. The difference is
\nthat the concrete roof in Jakarta is supported in the middle by a
\npair of arched beams, not at the edge as is the case with the
\nbuilding in Berlin.<\/p>\n
According to Noerpontjo, the spherical shape of the roof was
\ndesigned by accident when he -- making a model of the dome --
\ncasually made an oval mold whose middle he pried open, giving it
\nthe appearance of a shell. Sujudi gave his wholehearted approval
\nfor this design.<\/p>\n
Some see the dome as having the shape of two half-shells
\ncantilevered with the beams in the middle, which seen all
\ntogether resemble the wings of a giant bird in flight.<\/p>\n
During the occupation of the building's compound by
\nantigovernment protesters in May 1998, the roof of the building
\n-- for the first in its history -- was clambered upon by dozens
\nof visitors.<\/p>\n
The building might have something special in store for
\nPresident B.J. Habibie in the coming days as the country's
\nhistory continues to be made here.<\/p>\n
So, let's see what the building holds for Habibie this
\nWednesday. (bsr)<\/p>",
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