Dutch officials aghast at damages

Dutch officials aghast at damages

JAKARTA (JP): Damages at several Jakarta's old and protected
buildings have stunned a group of visiting Dutch government
officials, who are here for a week-long orientation on heritage.

"Jesus!" whispered Ferdinand Dorsman, while viewing the
condition of the roof of the 87-year-old former Central Jakarta
Immigration Office building during their trip on Saturday. The
building used to be called Bataviasche Kuntskring, or the Batavia
Cultural Center, during the Dutch colonial era.

According to Dorsman, a senior advisor at the Dutch Ministry
of Education, Culture and Science, it's a pity to have such thing
happen to such a valuable inheritance.

"There's regulation on old buildings (here) which should be
respected, because if not, I'm worried that similar things can
occur to other buildings," he said.

Besides Dorsman, none of the other four-member group,
comprising policy staffer of the Netherlands Department for
Conservation, Peter van Dun, senior lecturer of museology at the
Amsterdam School of Arts, Harrie M. Leyten, and Tanja Mensenkamp
from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were willing to comment on
the damages at the protected building.

They worried that their words might hurt the feelings of the
Indonesian authorities or people which could affect the bilateral
relationship between Indonesia and the Netherlands.

The damages at the 87-year-old building, last used for the
Central Jakarta Immigration office, were noticed for the first
time by local media late last year.

Some of its window and door frames have been removed and
several parts of the roof broken. The building owner, PT Mandala
Griya Cipta construction firm, claimed that materials have been
stolen by unidentified parties. He later promised to repair it in
a bid to protect the building from the tropical sun and rain.

Unfortunately, some of the doors and windows of the building
were still left exposed on Saturday.

Under the escort of local experts and a staffer from the Dutch
embassy here, the visiting Dutchmen also visited the former
Supreme Court building, partly damaged due to construction of a
new office for the Budget Directorate General of the Ministry of
Finance, the owner of the property.

Here, the visitors could not hide their sorrow after
witnessing the poor condition of the building, which was built in
the early 19th century as part of former Governor-General J.P.
Coen's dream to build a new city center for Batavia at the
Weltevreden area.

According to van Dun, the Jakarta administration did not have
comprehensive planning on conservation of old buildings in the
capital.

"What is missing is the overall plan to develop old Jakarta as
a historic town for today's use," he said.

The preservationists said the authority should think about the
economic function of the heritage for the sake of the
continuation of the buildings.

"If you conserve a building only because it is beautiful and
historical but do not know how to use it, you have to pay a lot
for maintenance," he said.

Van Dun cited Cafe Batavia and Galangan Resto-Cafe at the old
city of Kota in West Jakarta as good examples of conservation in
Jakarta since the management has also properly used the buildings
for business functions.

He suggested the local authority attract more private sectors
become involved in the conservation works here by offering them
great business opportunities through completion of the projects.

The group was in the country under the coordination of their
embassy here to visit old buildings and places in Jakarta and the
West Java capital of Bandung. They are expected to fly back home
today. (ind)