City to preserve more old buildings

City to preserve more old buildings

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While new skyscrapers, shining lights and jam-packed roads may
make Jakarta seem a modern metropolis, scratch under the dirt in
the city's less fancier parts of town and the city's 478 years
are revealed.

To ensure the preservation of the old face of the city, the
Jakarta administration will add more than 100 buildings to its
list of 132 protected heritage sites next year.

Dwi Martati, certification section head at the Culture and
Museum Agency, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday the agency was
in the process of finalizing a new list of protected heritage
buildings to enlarge on the previous list created by the 1993
Gubernatorial Decree.

"At the time we had complete data on only those 132 sites,
while to formalize them as heritage buildings we need
comprehensive data, not only their historical value but also age,
authenticity, rarity, and architecture," she said, adding that
Jakarta had many more heritage buildings that should be
protected.

According to the 1993 decree, there are 67 locations in
Central Jakarta with heritage buildings, 16 locations in North
Jakarta, 35 locations in West Jakarta, and
seven locations each in South Jakarta and East Jakarta.

To these, the city administration will add at least 100 more
heritage buildings, including an example of 19 Century Chinese
architecture, the Toko Kompak building in Pasar Baru, Central
Jakarta.

Several houses on Jl. Abdul Rahman Saleh in Central Jakarta
will also be included on the new list for having distinct
military architecture.

"The houses were once a part of a military housing complex for
the Dutch army, that included the Lapangan Banteng, Gunung Sahari
and Kwitang areas," Dwi said.

In North Jakarta, the warehouses currently used by textile
company Texmaco will also be included on the new list. The
warehouses, on Jl. Pakin 4, are the only remaining warehouses
from the days of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the 17th
century.

The post office building on Jl. Matraman Raya 22 in East
Jakarta will also make it into the new list. Built in the 1920s
by architect J.S. Duyvis in the Modern Indies style, the building
was formerly known as the Post en Telegraafkantoor de Meester
Cornelis.

The buildings were chosen because of their historical value,
their age -- at least 50 years old -- building authenticity,
rarity, whether or not they were landmarks, and their
architectural qualities.

In consequence, owners of the protected buildings must not
change in any way the building's architecture or its environment
without consent from the Culture and Museum Agency.

"There are three categories of protected heritage buildings --
A, B, and C -- with A being the most precious and its
architecture as a whole must not be changed," Dwi said.

Use of the buildings, such as for social, tourism, education,
science, culture, or religious purposes, must also be in
coordination with the agency, she said.

While failing to preserve heritage buildings carries a maximum
fine of Rp 5 million (US$500) or six months of jail time, the
administration does not provide incentives to owners of protected
buildings to take care of them.

However, owners can write an appeal to the governor for
financial help to take care of protected heritage property, which
would then be included in next year's agency budget, Dwi said.

She said that the agency has helped several institutions this
way, including the renovation of the University of Indonesia's
Faculty of Medicine buildings on Jl. Salemba Raya, Central
Jakarta. The buildings, built between 1916 and 1920, were once
used by the Geneeskundige Hogeschool medical school.