City museums are not best place to learn about Fatahillah

City museums are not best place to learn about Fatahillah

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): This year, Jakarta celebrates its 470th
anniversary. In grade schools, Jakarta's school children are
taught that Jakarta was founded on June 22, 1527, the date when
Fatahillah seized Sunda Kelapa from the Portuguese and founded
Jayakarta -- City of Victory -- and most school kids would take
the information for granted.

In fact, there is much to learn about Jakarta's history. The
celebration of Jakarta's anniversary was held in front of the
capital city's City Hall on Jl. Merdeka Selatan, on June 22,
1956. That very year, based on his research, prominent Indonesian
historian Soekanto concluded that the date of Fatahillah
victorious recapture of Sunda Kelapa was June 22, 1527.

Where can school children learn Jakarta's history?

The best places to learn about history are at museums and
Jakarta certainly has many museums. A publication entitled
Jakarta, City of Museums (1991) boasts the city has 35 museums.
Currently, the number has increased to around 50 museums.

Museum Sejarah Jakarta (Jakarta Museum of History), located in
the former town hall of the city of Batavia, has the greatest
potential in presenting exhibitions where people can learn about
Jakarta's history. The exhibition on the first floor of the
building focuses on the early history of Jakarta. As well as a
display of prehistorical artifacts, a duplicate of the
inscription of Tarumanagara, the first historical evidence in the
region, is also exhibited.

Although the museum is situated in front of a square called
Fatahillah, after the founder of Jayakarta, almost no information
about Fatahillah or Jayakarta is available in the museum. One
mural depicts the city's early interactions with Europeans but it
primarily focuses on Sultan Agung's abortive attempt to recapture
the city from the Dutch.

It also features old canons and ammunition probably dating
from that period. Within the museum there are dungeons in which
Pangeran Diponegoro, the 19th century prince who rebelled against
the Dutch and caused the War of Java between 1825 and 1830, was
once held prisoner. The museum is mostly filled with Dutch
colonial furniture from the 18th century and 19th century,
grouped in period rooms.

So, where can we learn about Fatahillah and Jayakarta?

Sudarmadji Damais, Museum Sejarah Jakarta's director, said
there was no exhibition on Fatahillah because of a lack of
information on the enigmatic hero.

"We only have information about Fatahillah from a Portuguese
source, which reports about a certain Falatehan who occupied
Jacatra at the service of the Sultan of Demak and Cirebon," he
said.

The Office of the Protection of Historical and Prehistorical
Remains' former director, Uka Tjandrasasmita, said that this
report is known as the Chronicles of de Barros. He said that it
was the historian Hoesein Djajadiningrat who first wrote about
Falatehan in 1913 in his dissertation.

Djajadiningrat equated Falatehan with Syarif Hidayatullah and
Sunan Gungung Jati. In 1933, he added that the name Falatehan
used by the Portuguese was a misinterpretation of Fatahillah.

"This was based on a mention by Fruin Mees in the second
volume of History of Java, published in 1920," Tjandrasasmita
added.

The interpretation that Fatahillah was synonymous with Sunan
Gunung Jati continued until the 1970s. At that time, according
to Tjandrasasmita, a new source was cited. Purwaka Caruban
Nagari, a manuscript written in 1720 by Pangeran Arya Cirebon
clearly mentions the existence of a son-in-law of Sunan Gunung
Jati, called Wong Agung (Great Man) from Pasai, who is considered
to be Fatahillah. Sultan Tranggono, the leader of Demak, also wed
this man from Pasai to his sister and the widow of Pangeran
Sabrang Lor.

Tjandrasasmita explained further that Purwaka Caruban Nagari
also mentions that the Wong Agung Pasai was ordered by the leader
of Demak to attack Palapa with an army of 1,967 soldiers. De
Barros's report mentions an army of 2,000, thus confirming the
Cirebon manuscript.

Damais added that many scholars questioned the authenticity of
Purwaka Caruban Nagari. Historians de Graaf and Pigeaud
questioned why this manuscript used a Gregorian calendar and not
a Javanese one. Tjandrasasmita explained that Pangeran Arya
Cirebon, the author of Purwaka Caruban Nagari, was appointed by
the VOC as the Superintendent of the Regents of East Priangan
between 1706 and 1723 to 1724. As he was familiar with the Dutch
administrative systems, and corresponded with the Dutch
regularly, it would have made sense for him to have adopted a
Gregorian calendar for his manuscript.

The exact date of Fatahillah's seizure of Sunda Kelapa and its
renaming to Jayakarta may never be known for sure.

"Even the exact dates of the establishments of many major
European cities are not known for certain," said Damais.

Until further evidence proves otherwise, Indonesians will
continue to consider June 22, 1527 as the date of the founding of
Jakarta.

Although material evidence about Fatahillah seems to be no
longer available, Damais still hopes to be able to provide an
interpretation about the enigmatic figure in the Jakarta History
Museum. Until then, perhaps we can learn about Fatahillah from
the film, Fatahillah, which has been proudly coproduced by the
Governor of Jakarta. After all, this film is based on the
scholarly research of historians and archaeologists, including
Uka Tjandrasasmita.