Councill greets bylaw on Betawi village

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

All seven factions in the City Council expressed support on Monday for the idea of designating Srengseng Sawah, South Jakarta, as the city's Betawi (native Jakartan) culture preservation village, replacing the crowded Condet area in East Jakarta.

The factions, however, differed on how the special village would be best managed.

In a session to deliberate the draft bylaw on Betawi culture preservation, Hidayat Rohim of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction stressed that the Jakarta administration needed to improve coordination between the relevant city agencies in the implementation of the bylaw.

"The program should be supported by a significant budget allocation," Hidayat said without detailing the current budget allotted to maintain the existing Srengseng Sawah cultural village.

Hidayat said that since the development of the area -- as stipulated under Gubernatorial Decree No. 92/2000, the administration had only managed to construct an office, an open theater, galleries, two mosques and 67 houses using original Betawi architecture.

"It was only 0.8 percent of the potential of the village ... there should be a Betawi culture research and study center to help document the culture as well as the traditions that are still being kept alive among the Betawi people," he added.

The United Development Party (PPP) faction councillor Nuraini Syaifullah said that the administration should expedite the project to develop the village as soon as the bylaw is approved "so that it could attract tourists".

Nuraini recommended that Betawi artists be involved in the management of the village.

Meanwhile, Zaenudin MH of the Golkar Party faction warned that the development of the village would not be easy owing to the fact that the village was currently inhabited by residents from various ethnic groups.

"People of Srengseng Sawah are basically heterogeneous. It will be difficult to create certain cultural values in a community where not all its members are committed to the promotion of that culture," Zaenudin said.

Abdul Ghoni of the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction added that his faction thought it necessary to regulate in the bylaw a clause to restrict the population in the 165-hectare village, which is currently inhabited by 9,500 people.

However, many councillors see it as against the constitutional rights of the individual to freedom of movement.

If approved, the bylaw will strengthen the gubernatorial decree on Srengseng Sawah.

The area was chosen as the new Betawi village after the administration failed to develop 18,228 hectares in three subdistricts in Condet that had been declared a Betawi cultural area in 1974 by former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin.

The bylaw will stipulate that buildings, including houses, shops, and office buildings situated in the village must use Betawi architecture and motifs. Any violation of the bylaw will carry a maximum sentence of six months in prison or a Rp 5 million (US$562) fine.