Deli palace seeks new management

Deli palace seeks new management

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): An heir of the Deli Sultanate has
offered the provincial administration the right to manage the
19th century Maimoon Palace, considered by many to be more an
eyesore than a central Medan landmark.

Tengku Jufri Arrasyid told visiting city councilors that he is
offering to sell the palace's nine hectares of land, but wants to
retain the title to the building.

The proceeds, he said, would be distributed among the 21
families who now live in the palace. He did not give an estimate
of the asking price for the palace built in 1891.

The administration would have the right to run the palace, he
told Antara, adding that he believed the administration could
manage the place more professionally than his family.

The descendants of the Deli Sultanate have had trouble
maintaining the palace. They owe Rp 20 million ($8,700) to the
electricity company PLN for bills dating back to 1984, Tengku
Jufri said.

"We can't raise that kind of money ... Don't be surprised to
see the Maimoon Palace pitch dark at night," said the 50-year-old
direct descendant of Tengku Mahmud Arrasyid, the founder of the
sultanate.

He recalled that negotiations to sell the palace broke down in
the 1980s after the North Sumatra administration offered only Rp
800 million against Rp 1.2 billion sought by the royal family.

Family feuds have hampered the running of the palace and the
sultanate's heritage, Tengku Jufri conceded, recalling the time
when huge sums donated in the 1980s by Bustanil Arifin, then
chief of the State Logistics Agency, disappeared amid the
family's conflicts. (emb)