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)