Bandung's Jalan Braga on the road to renovation

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.