Common graves planned for Jakartans

JAKARTA (JP): In an attempt to overcome a lack of land for public cemeteries, the city administration has called on residents to accept common graves for themselves and their loved ones.

The city authorities are also encouraging Jakartans to seek public cemeteries outside the capital, so as to lessen the pressure on space.

Spokesman for the city administration Muhayat said on Sunday that there were 103 public cemeteries across the capital occupying 566 hectares of land at present. Only some of the cemeteries applied the common grave system, in which two or more bodies were buried in the same grave.

Muhayat said the capital needed at least 18 hectares of land per year to accommodate the daily average of between 100 and 120 burials.

Most public cemeteries, such as the one in Tanah Kusir in South Jakarta, have no more room for additional graves, according to Muhayat. The city administration could only provide 1 hectare of land annually for public cemeteries, given the limited budget allocated for land acquisition.

Muhayat added that the city administration had not purchased any land for public cemeteries last year after the proposed purchase of 2.4 hectares of land to extend the Pondok Rangon cemetery in East Jakarta was rejected.

He also called on residents to keep their cemetery permits, which must be extended every three years, up to date to avoid overlapping of burials.

Currently the annual fee for a cemetery permit varies between Rp 2,000 and Rp 50,000 depending on the location.

Public cemeteries contributed Rp 2.41 billion to the city revenue in the 1999/2000 fiscal year, down from Rp 2.48 billion in the previous fiscal year. The income from cemetery fees for nine months of the 2000 fiscal year was set at Rp 2.8 billion. (07)