Ancient fortress may soon be thing of memory
Ancient fortress may soon be thing of memory
Bambang M., Contributor, Yogyakarta
Preserving a heritage site is a tough job. A clear example of
this can be found in Yogyakarta, where what remains of the once
five-kilometer-long ancient fortress which surrounded the
Yogyakarta Palace is now only 600 meters.
While some parts of Benteng Baluwarti fortress gave way to
nature's onslaughts or were destroyed during war time, others
were deliberately destroyed by local people living nearby.
And unfortunately, the destruction of the fortress, which once
protected Indonesian guerrillas fighting for independence from an
attack by Dutch soldiers, still goes on -- even until today.
Soelistin Oyek Maryadi, a local resident living in Wijilan
village in the inside part of the fortress, "added" a new room to
her house. In the process, she constructed a door at the
fortress' inside wall which opened up into a three-meter long
space up to the outer wall. There, after adding a roof, she had a
new room for her house.
"I did it with the Kawedanan Hageng Sriwandono (an institution
under the palace administration)'s permission," Soelistin said
earlier.
Later on, it was found out that the institution she named did
not have the right to give such permission since it is the
responsibility of another institution, Kawedanan Hageng Pengageng
(KHP) Wahono Sartokriyo chaired by the brother of the sultan of
Yogyakarta KGPH Hadiwinoto. In fact, the KHP Wahono Sartokriyo
had earlier issued a letter prohibiting Soelistin from extending
her house due to the fortress status as a heritage site.
Soelistin's case was reported to the police on Dec. 16, 2002,
according to Indra Dewa Kusuma of the working group of the local
Archeological and Historical Heritage Preservation office.
Soelistin, he said, had violated Law No. 5/1992 on cultural
conservation that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail
or Rp 100 million in fines, if convicted.
But Soelistin, who demolished her "new room" on Dec. 22, also
demanded all buildings in the area that were built in the same
way be demolished as well.
"I have no problem demolishing mine. But others should do the
same," Soelistin insisted. She was referring to, among other
things, a nearby building built in the same way that had been
there for the last two years, left undisturbed.
Still, the damage has been done, serious damage. Most tourists
passing the streets surrounding the palace, like Jl. Brigjen
Katamso or Jl. Mayjen Sutoyo, would not be aware that they are
traveling around the palace unless they are told so because the
remaining sections of the fortress are no longer visible,
obscured by houses or stores.
Beteng Baluwarti, which was built in the 1780s, originally had
five plengkung or gates that connected the palace complex with
the outside. However, only four of them are still there at
present, including the southwest and northwest bastions.
According to historian Arief Akhyat of Gadjah Mada University,
the existence of common people's houses within the fortress,
locally known as the jeron beteng area, began in the last half of
the 1800s. At that time, as the palace was in need of money, it
rented some of the jeron beteng area to people of Chinese descent
at expensive rates.
"But it might be somewhere around the revolution time that
people started to attach their buildings to the fortress as many
went to the palace to seek shelter," Arief said.
To build a house inside the fortress area, locally known as
magersari, people were required to ask the KHP Wahono Sartokriyo
office, which is in charge of managing the palace's properties
and vehicles. The permit, however, only allows them to build a
house but does not automatically entitle the permit holders to
own the land.
Unfortunately, according to the head of the Yogyakarta
Municipality's Building and City Planning office, there's no
detailed regulation on constructing a building in the jeron
beteng area. It was only in 1988 the local government issued
regulation No. 5/1988.
"The regulation stipulates that constructing a building by
attaching it to the palace fortress is not allowed," said
Harundono, expressing regret that the regulation came in late,
since many buildings were already attached to the fortress by
that time.
The regulation, according to Harundono, also required the
houses to be built at a minimum distance of three meters from the
fortress and that they should not be higher than the fortress.
The design, too, he added, should be made in such a way to blend
with the palace environment.
But, rules are made to be broken. Many of the houses are not
only "glued" to the fortress, but are also higher.
Another form of destruction includes shortcuts created by
breaking the fortress' wall to connect the inside and outside
parts of the fortress. Such destruction can be seen in the
Suryomentaraman area where the shortcut allows people living
inside the fortress to access Jl. Brigjen Katamso.
"We find it difficult to demolish the houses (which violate
the regulation) because they were built before the regulation was
issued. Besides, the area has been transformed into a dense
residential area," said Harundono, explaining why the
municipality had no plan to restore the fortress.
Chairwoman of Jogja Heritage Society Laretna T. Adishakti,
better known as Sita, said the damage to the fortress occurred
due to the absence of strict law enforcement.
"The regulation is there, but not the enforcement," said Sita,
who is also chairwoman of the Indonesia Heritage Year 2003.
She suggested that in order to prevent further damage, all
permits allowing people to build buildings that could damage the
fortress should no longer be issued.
Related offices including the Yogyakarta municipality city
planning office should actively inform people about the
regulation to prevent people from destroying the fortress,
otherwise, more destruction will take place in the future due to
people's ignorance.
So far, nothing has been done, there's not even a sign
mentioning the law or regulation in the area. In that case, local
residents cannot be entirely blamed for the destruction.