City administration tidies up graves to look similar
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.