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)