Ciputat antiques going for a song

By Edith Hartanto

JAKARTA (JP): Antique dealers along Jl. Ciputat Raya in South Jakarta are offering discounts of up to 50 percent for the whole of August.

Banners outside shops and galleries between Pasar Jumat and Rempoa will indicate which shops are participating in the Ciputat Fair.

The organizing committee's head, Budi Santosa, said the fair was aimed at foreigners and locals alike.

"We have all kinds of antiques, such as paintings, sculptures, furniture and handicrafts. Visitors can choose different motifs, from classic to modern," Budi said yesterday.

A quick tour of some of the shops revealed a wide range of antiques on offer, including a collection of old silver and gold jewelry, traditional weapons, Dutch colonial-era furniture, artistic suspended lamps and wooden sculptures with tribal motifs.

There are also traditional paintings, sarongs, materials and weaving from almost every part of Indonesia including Aceh, Palembang, West Sumatra, Lampung, Bali, Sumbawa, Flores, Kalimantan and Irian Jaya.

There are also Chinese ceramics and furniture.

The fair, in which 105 shops and galleries are participating, is part of celebrations for Jakarta's 470th birthday and Indonesia's 52nd independence anniversary.

It is organized by the Sarik Migrant Fraternity, a group of migrants from Bukittinggi in West Sumatra, who run most of the antique shops on Jl. Ciputat Raya.

Budi, who runs the Budi Gallery, said 80 percent of antique dealers in Ciputat were related.

"We all come from Sarik village, close to Mt. Merapi in Bukittinggi," he said.

People from the same village also run most of the antique shops on Jl. Surabaya, Jl. Sabang and Jl. Kebon Sirih in Central Jakarta, he said.

The antique business has been passed on from generation to generation.

"My father, Haji Nasrul, was in the business for 20 years," said the 30-year old Budi, who gave up a management position with a major Japanese electronic assembly company to continue the family business.

The fair was almost canceled because the dealers did not put in as much money as expected.

Budi said some of his colleagues were reluctant to chip in.

"They are very interested in family affairs, but when it comes to business, they are stingy," he said.

One victim of this was the press conference, originally planned for the eve of the fair on Thursday. The conference was canceled contributing to a lack of publicity.

But Budi is optimistic the fair will promote Ciputat as tourist area.

"Our motto is still: 'We buy junk from you and sell antiques to you'," he said in reference to Sarik antique dealers' old motto.