Another protected building destroyed

JAKARTA (JP): The number of destroyed or damaged historical buildings in the capital is increasing.

Another protected building, located on Jl. Teuku Cik Ditiro, Central Jakarta, which once won a city administration award for its well-preserved architecture, was demolished over the course of last week.

All that is left of the area, which used to be a residential one, are debris and bricks. The site has been encircled by a high white fence.

An expert on the city's historical buildings, Arya Abieta, said on Saturday this was another example of the city administration's failure to preserve old and protected buildings.

"People have seen yet again the city administration's seriousness in protecting old and protected buildings.

"Such an occurrence should not happen if the city administration was performing its monitoring and controlling role seriously," Arya told The Jakarta Post.

"It is made more saddening because the building on Jl. Teuku Cik Ditiro won a city administration award for its well-preserved architecture in 1995," he said.

Arya, who is also head of the Architectural Research and Preservation department of the Association of Indonesian Architects (IAI), said he had observed the demolition of the building -- estimated to have been built in the 1920s -- last week. "But I could not do anything because there was no information on the building's owners."

When the building won the award it was owned by business tycoon Mohammad (Bob) Hasan, he said. There is no information on the current owner of the protected building.

Arya said the building was valuable because it followed the model of Indische Huis, an architectural trend of the early twentieth century, characterized by large verandas and symmetrical composition in room division. Houses of this type are mostly found in the elite Menteng area of Central Jakarta.

The house was included in the Menteng preservation area declared under a Gubernatorial Decree in 1975. Arya predicted that there were some 100 old buildings in Menteng alone.

The number of old and protected buildings in the city continues to decrease, either because they are demolished or rebuilt in different styles.

There is no exact data on missing or destroyed buildings, but people can clearly seem them in many places in the city.

Contacted separately on Saturday, head of the City Museum and Restoration Agency Robert Silalahi, said he had yet to receive information on the flattened building.

"We are, of course, upset by the event but we can do nothing, as the supervisory role is managed by the city's Development Control Agency.

"The control agency should not have issued a permit allowing the building to be flattened if it is categorized as an historical one," he said.

The Museum and Restoration Agency is only responsible for making recommendations to the Development Control Agency, while the latter issue licenses to reconstruct or destroy historical buildings, Robert said. (ind)