Conserving and commercializing Jakarta's graves

Conserving and commercializing Jakarta's graves

Nirwono Joga, Jakarta

At least one booth at the Jakarta Fair 2004 offers various
types of cemetery plots for resting places at prices from Rp 7.4
million (US$780) to Rp 640.5 million, ranging in size from 10
square meters to 864 square meters.

Former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin (1966-1977) has emphasized
that graves must never be commercialized because they constitute
a main component in the cycle of city life, which guarantees
citizens' rights in life and death.

Jakarta is indeed facing a crisis of burial land. With a total
area of 575.19 hectares in 2003, the city's public cemeteries
(TPU) could only accommodate 20 percent of the graves needed. The
mortality rate in Jakarta increased from 80 people daily in 1997
to 100 in 2003 and keeps rising with the higher rates of suicide
and crime.

The Jakarta administration's cemetery office has calculated
that the demand for burial ground space in 2005 will be 785
hectares. Meanwhile, based on the Jakarta spatial layout plan for
2000-2010, the target set for cemeteries is only put at 745.18
hectares (2010).

The reclamation of land for private burial places in Karawang
regency, West Java, some 60 kilometers from Jakarta, covers 200
hectares, of which only 60 percent (120 hectares) serve as
graves, equivalent to 20.87 percent of the area of Jakarta's
public cemeteries.

Unless the burial grounds are properly managed, disputes may
later arise over cemetery land between Jakarta and neighboring
towns -- Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi, Karawang and Depok -- much
like the case of the Bantar Gebang garbage dump.

The neighboring towns certainly will prioritize the building
of cemeteries for their own citizens rather than for Jakartans.
Developers of satellite towns on Jakarta's outskirts should
therefore also make available their own burial places based on
mortality predictions.

The time has come for cemetery personnel to terminate their
pursuit of fees (including illegal ones) and the sale of graves
that are already occupied. They should be seen as an asset, with
potential for long-term investment, an urban tourist destination,
a place for cremation services, areas that honor historic resting
places of eminent people and a spiritual space. They can also be
used as a city conservation park with ecological and esthetic
value.

Turning public cemeteries into tourist destinations is still
beyond the consideration of the Jakarta administration. In fact,
such major world cities as Sydney, Melbourne, London, Paris,
Washington DC and Singapore have successfully converted
cemeteries into one of their tourist spots and foreign exchange
earners.

Cemetery conditions in Jakarta are muddled up and overcrowded,
creating a spooky and eerie impression. TPU workers, cleaners,
flower sellers, burial officers and even beggars often harass
visitors and mourners, thus depriving them of the tranquility to
relax for mourning and/or reflection.

Jakarta's cemeteries actually have the great potential to
become a city tourism booster. There are the graves of the hero
MH Thamrin and one of Sukarno's wives, Fatmawati at the TPU-Karet
Bivak, the first vice president Bung Hatta at TPU-Tanah Kusir,
British soldiers at TPU-Menteng Pulo, Dutch graves at TPU-
Petamburan and the resting places of Maj. Gen. JHR Kohler (Aceh
War), wife of British Governor General Raffles and student
activist Soe Hok Gie at ex-TPU-Kebon Jahe (now a museum of
archeology).

It is not convenient or easy to deal with loved ones who have
died in Jakarta. Some people even "warn" against dying in this
city to avoid the mess and trouble of handling funeral
procedures. Still there is no guarantee that the existing graves
will not be demolished. Without a certificate one can never
expect to get a place at a Jakarta TPU.

So, how does one bury a friend or relative here?

The relatives should first report it to RT and RW
(neighborhood administration) before going to the local health
center (for corpse examination) and the subdistrict office for
the physician's death certificate. With the family card and
identity card of the deceased, the relatives select a burial plot
at the nearest TPU. Then there is the administration fees and
other payments (negotiated) to obtain a three-year cemetery land
use permit (IPTM). This license should be extended every three
years, or else demolition is imminent.

Most Jakartans do not want to be bothered by the funeral
bureaucracy and choose to register the dead with funeral
foundations, which offer complete service packages at varying
rates. They provide services that cover everything that is need
in the process.

The decision to cremate depends on many factors from cultural
traditions to cost. It is already familiar to the Hindus in Bali
or citizens of Chinese descent. The limited land for cemeteries
and growing demand for cremation have prompted major cities to
build eco-friendly crematories, which are efficient, economical,
hygienic and conservation oriented.

A manual for cemetery restructuring should be compiled by
involving professionals, academicians, religious leaders,
community figures and those concerned about cemetery affairs.
This guide should contain an efficient land-prudent funeral
system, innovative burial techniques, computerized cemetery
management as well as transparent and accountable funding.

The grid pattern of land plots for graves will facilitate
burial, maintenance and cemetery data gathering. The computerized
system will expedite funeral procedural operations, make grave
repair easier, ensure more accurate documentation and allow the
public easier access to data on identities of the deceased.

The writer is chairman of the Indonesian Landscape
Architecture Study Group, Jakarta.