Bandung's Jalan Braga on the road to renovation

By Dewi Anggraeni

MELBOURNE (JP): When you were strolling or shopping in Jalan Braga, Bandung, did you ever stop and look at the shop fronts? Have you ever wondered what they looked like before they were obscured by uncoordinated advertising and grime, generated by exhaust from dense traffic.

Before the shop fronts fell into disrepair and degradation, believe it or not, they had beautiful designs and elegant art deco facades. Along the street are buildings of world class architecture which most heritage organizations would die for. The buildings would make most domestic and international tourists with an eye for history stop and stare.

It is therefore heartening to learn that at the start of this year, the Bandung Heritage Society (Paguyuban Pelestarian Budaya Bandung) began a project to restore Jalan Braga to its former glory. An ambitious plan indeed, but one the society does not take lightly.

The society is receiving support and assistance for the project from an Australian network of cultural heritage services, AusHeritage.

AusHeritage's Executive Director Penny Ramsay, explained that the agency has several projects in progress, including Jalan Braga. Two of its completed projects include the conservation plan and a dilapidation survey for Kapitan Keling Mosque in Georgetown, Malaysia, and a heritage architecture assessment project in Vietnam. In some projects, AusHeritage provides consultancy services. In others, like Braga for instance, AusHeritage works in partnership with local organizations.

The Braga project is being led by heritage architects Anne Warr and Regia Alfa. As can be imagined, it is a job that involves a great deal of community canvassing and lobbying, seeking the understanding and cooperation of various authorities.

Warr's original plan when she come to Indonesia last year, was to conduct a heritage inventory survey. She had a Merdeka scholarship from an Australian Federal Government fund, initiated by former prime minister Paul Keating. However, when she met the society, she was asked to work on the more urgent Braga project. Warr accepted the task without hesitation. She described the society as a very committed, strong and dynamic group of people, including some 25 students from several universities.

With a A$10,000 kick-off grant from AusHeritage, the society has completed the first stage of the project. They drew up a plan for the street's renovation. The students went and interviewed shop owners and the people in the kampongs, including street vendors. They held workshops with community groups. They collected information and took photographs of the area.

Then, based on the information collected, the society developed a proposal. This proposal has been submitted to the Bandung Deputy Mayor's office. The proposal will also go to other authorities, Warr said.

In its cultural mapping exercise, the society began with an understanding that the buildings were only a backdrop to the Indonesian lifestyle today, that the kampongs and the street vendors were important elements of the street. So their task was to find a balance, maintaining the roles of the different people with vastly different interests.

Frances Affandi, the society's Executive Secretary emphasized that the project should give priority to the local community. "We have worked almost ceaselessly on the Braga project since we see it as the core of heritage in Bandung. Nearly the whole story of Bandung can be told by Braga," she said with enthusiasm.

Now that the first stage of the project has been completed, the society is beginning the project's second stage; the implementation of the plan.

Warr said the society has been lobbying the West Java Provincial Public Works Office, and has been able to obtain the office's commitment to help implement the plan. "In Indonesia, it is not easy to know who the implementing authority is. Certain things are the responsibility of the central government, while others are that of provincial or local government," she said. A big part of the job is finding channels to the correct authorities to implement the project.

The society has approached the mayor's office, for instance, to propose that guidelines be made for advertisers to follow. The guidelines are to introduce consistency to the street's advertising signs, which now cover shop fronts in an unsightly, arbitrary manner. The society is also planning to talk to the mayor's office about the possibility of closing the street to traffic at night, and then, if possible, during the daytime. "At present, it is a dreadful traffic corridor," Warr said.

The second stage is much more difficult than the first. It is now up to the Indonesian authorities to implement the project and pay some of the bills as well.

No grants have been awarded for the second stage of the project. Warr's Merdeka scholarship only covers her living expenses. The society is confident that the cultural pride of the authorities will translate into a political will to implement the plan. And Jalan Braga will become the pride of Bandung once more.