City to plate Arjuna Wijaya statue in bronze

City to plate Arjuna Wijaya statue in bronze

Bambang Nurbianto
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The Jakarta administration will bronze-plate the Arjuna Wijaya
statue, located on the intersection of Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat,
Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan, Jl. M.H. Thamrin and Jl. Budi
Kemuliaan, Central Jakarta.

The plan was revealed just two weeks after the Gen. Soedirman
statue was inaugurated on Jl. Jend. Sudirman in Dukuh Atas,
Central Jakarta.

The Arjuna Wijaya statue will be plated in bronze by Balinese
artisan Nyoman Nuarta, who sculpted the statue in 1987 during the
Soeharto regime.

The statue, which cost Rp 300 million (US$120,000 with
previous currency rate) depicts a part of the Bharatayudha epic
in which Arjuna is about to fight his half-brother Karna on the
Kurusetra field.

Jakarta Parks Agency chief Mauritz Napitupulu said on Friday
that the Rp 4 billion (US$470,588) required for the bronze
plating would come from NISP bank, the sponsor of the project.
Therefore, he said, the administration did not need to allocate
money for the project.

"Pak Nyoman approached NISP Bank and asked it to sponsor the
project," he told The Jakarta Post.

Nyoman said the statue, which will be taken to the Nyoman
Studio in Bandung for plating, was originally coated in resin
polyester.

"We hope the work will be completed in November," he said,
adding that Rp 1.5 billion will be spent on plating the statue,
Rp 1.3 billion on restoring the pedestal it stands on and the
remaining Rp 1.2 billion for renovating the square on which the
statue is located.

Nyoman also guaranteed that the bank would not ask for
compensation from the administration, but instead wanted its name
on the pedestal.

He said he had initially planned to plate the statue in
bronze, but financial restraints forced him to coat it in resin
polyester.

"Restoring the statue will realize my dream," he said.

The administration inaugurated the Rp 3.5 billion Gen.
Soedirman statue on Aug. 16.

Governor Sutiyoso revealed earlier that he planned to move the
existing 34 statues of heroes in the city to roads that are named
after the heroes.

Mauritz, however, refused to discuss the plan, saying it had
not been discussed with him.

"The governor expressed his idea publicly for feedback. If
there is a good response, the project may go ahead," he said.