Authorities dream of port's old glory

By Yoko N. Sari

JAKARTA (JP): The dirty and smelly Ciliwung river in Sunda Kalapa, North Jakarta will be blue and beautiful. The slum-like fish market, Pasar Ikan, will turn into a clean and friendly market.

By the brink of the 21st century, historical and modern high- rise buildings will dominate the view in Sunda Kalapa.

In the future, people will be able to walk along the coast enjoying their holiday, or just enjoy a sunny afternoon without having to smell anything nasty.

All these scenes are part of the municipality's dream to revitalize the north coast: to revive the glory of the Sunda Kalapa port 469 years after a commander captured the site from the Portuguese on June 22, 1527.

According to the ambitious plan, a monument to commemorate the commander -- Fatahillah of the Demak kingdom -- will be erected on the 8.9-hectare site, facing the sea.

A town with traditional features will serve as a public center, while another monument will commemorate Sultan Agung of the Mataram (Yogyakarta) kingdom. Sultan Agung, the greatest king in the Mataram era, was considered meritorious for his heroism in raiding the Batavia fortress in 1629.

A cultural center will be located in the port area. Nearby, visitors will be able to inspect the renovated centuries-old mosque in Kampung Luar Batang and traditional ships in the port.

A yacht terminal will also be built.

The fish market will be improved as a center of traditional merchandise. The Kali Besar area will also be revived, along with the development of business centers.

The plans' first phase aims to return the sidewalks of the 300-meter Jl. Kali Besar road to their original function as pedestrian pathways, as they are presently blocked by traders and vendors.

The architecture of buildings in the area will be restored.

Palms, bougainvillea and other plants will also line the dusty area. Street lamps will hopefully add a sense of security to the place.

There are already some new buildings in Kali Besar, such as the Omni Batavia hotel.

The North Jakarta mayoralty is also beginning to develop sites along the Opak river into a shopping center and office buildings this month.

The Opak river stretches from the dense Malaka to Penjaringan subdistricts. However, only 500 meters of the river are to be included in the 8.9 hectare development area.

The project includes the renovation of the old fish auction center and the leaning tower in the fish port.

The city administration has been taking steps to implement the plan, such as relocating warehouses from the old buildings currently being used in North and West Jakarta.

"The administration expects the owners to relocate their warehouses by 1997. There are still 40 warehouses in the Jakarta urban heritage corridor located in West and North Jakarta," Prawoto, an assistant to the city secretary, said.

Previously, there was a combined total of 124 warehouses in both mayoralties.

Prawoto said that the ex-warehouses will be used for various tourists sites, such as restaurants and hotels.

History

Once the project is completed, Jakartans will hopefully find it easy to trace the history of their city through the renovated port area.

Jakarta began hundreds of years ago when many local kingdoms and Europeans fought to control Sunda Kalapa, one of the most strategic ports on the north coast of Java.

The Demak Kingdom took over the port from the Padjajaran kingdom after it defeated the Portuguese navy on June 22, 1527. Fatahillah, the commander of the Demak armed forces, changed the name of the port to Jayakarta: "a perfect victory".

However, the Dutch took over the port after defeating Demak in 1619. It was during the Dutch era that the city's development began.

A Dutch-style city port was set up named Batavia, a city inside a fortress with typical European buildings.

The modest Jakarta bay was transformed into a port city similar to Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

The city was used by the Dutch trade company, VOC, as a center of its activities as well as business. The Dutch colonial government ruled the city from a building known as Stadhuis, which is now the Jakarta Historical Museum.

The fortress and the surrounding areas were the origins of the city now known as Jakarta.

The area spreads from Sunda Kalapa Port to Glodok.

The function of the Sunda Kalapa area changed when the Dutch government, in 1807, took over VOC's activities and moved government activities to Weltevreden, located in the National Monument Square.

Along with this change, people began to leave Sunda Kalapa.

At present, although part of this area is still used as a business and shopping center such as in Glodok, where you can buy relatively cheap electronic goods and household appliances, the areas are still relatively deserted.

The river, as well as the buildings -- built in the 17th century -- are dirty. Some of the buildings are being used as warehouses, while others consist of those that squatters have built along the Ciliwung river and its tributaries.

The condition is worsened by chaotic traffic.

The only things left to remind local or foreign visitors of the Dutch colonial days are the European-style dirty buildings. And centuries later, people have begun to realize the historical importance of this area.

The revival of the city's northern area particularly focuses on the Jakarta urban heritage corridor.

Potential

With several historical sites, the area has the potential to be one of the city's main attractions. Last year, 45,000 foreign tourists visited the port.

"I believe there will be more tourists visiting the port and other historical places such as Bahari museum if its condition is improved," Suprawito said.

The plan also supports the land reclamation project on the north coast, which intends to create a new 2,700-hectare waterfront city.

The mayoralty estimates project costs at Rp 8 billion (US$6.08 million), excluding the construction of the 10-story shopping center and the new office buildings, which will be offered to private investors. Total costs may reach Rp 14 billion.

Several problems to be addressed include resettling squatters and preserving the architecture of historical buildings.

In dealing with squatters, the administration has not hesitated in the past to evict them from illegal places such as river banks. An example was the eviction of more than 170 families on the Opak riverbank in February.

"The squatters were evicted because they had no right to live on the river bank, and the mayoralty intends to start the project as soon as possible to prevent them from returning," Suprawito said.

Recently, Budi Lim, an architect from the Jakarta Professional Group, warned the municipality to be careful in implementing the program, as investors tend to change the architecture of historical buildings for business-related interests.

He said the administration must be firm in enforcing regulations to avoid such practices, which will only ruin the city's history.