City administration tidies up graves to look similar
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
"Death comes equally to us all and makes us all equal when it comes," John Donne said in 1621.
Centuries later, the words of the English poet, who lived from 1572 to 1631, came true in Karet Bivak public cemetery in Central Jakarta where the city administration is currently reordering the graveyard, which has long been something of a mess.
Almost all of the 47,528 graves in the cemetery have a different appearance. Some have fences around them, others are replete with Borobudur-style tombs and several have parasols over them. But, most have ugly concretes structures built on top of them.
However, since 1998, a total of 2,925 graves in the cemetery have been rearranged, with standard tombstones being erected gradually giving rise to true equality in death.
This August, the administration will tear down the concrete structures and erect new tombstones on another 227 graves in the cemetery. All the costs are being borne by the city budget.
"If there are officials imposing any fees at all, please report them to me," Abdillah, an official of the city cemeteries agency, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
The agency is holding public meetings from July 23 to July 25 to explain the procedures for the free-of-charge rearrangement to the next of kin, he said.
Abdillah said that this year 778 graves would be reordered in Karet Bivak, Semanan/Kepa Duri and Menteng Pulo cemeteries.
"The purpose of the reordering is to tidy up the graveyards, which are mostly in disarray, and this makes them look spooky," he said.
The city would tear down the concrete structures built around the graves and leave nothing but tombstones and green grass.
"Such an arrangement will be a pleasant sight and somewhere nice for visitors to stroll," said Abdillah.
The scheme is being undertaken in compliance with Bylaw No. 2/1992, but considering the numerous graves in the city, it will take years to finish, he said.
Wiji, 20, who was visiting her grandfather's grave in Karet Bivak, said that she would not mind if the city reordered the graves. In fact, she thought it was a good idea.
"I doubted whether I would be invited because my grandfather died and was buried in 1959. Does the agency still have my grandfather's records?" she said.
There are 105 public cemeteries across the city with a total of 659,555 graves. Data from the city cemetery agency shows that an average of 80 people are buried in Jakarta every day. A new system of multiple grave use is being imposed so as to solve the problem of a lack of space for burials.