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.