Farmers up in arms over temple visitors' ungodly acts
Farmers up in arms over temple visitors' ungodly acts
By K. Basrie
KARAWANG, West Java (JP): Thousands of curious people visiting
a group of ancient temples in the Segaran and Telaga Jaya
villages have angered local farmers by destroying kilometers of
embankments in nearby rice fields.
Burdened by the weight of at least 2,000 visitors per day, the
embankments -- formerly more than 50 centimeters above the
fields' surface -- have sunk by up to a meter.
"It's a serious problem for the local farmers and we want the
government to immediately fix the footpaths so we can work
again," Namid, a farmer, told The Jakarta Post Monday.
As with most paddy fields around the country, the embankments
in Karawang are made of dried mud and serve as walls for the
fields, footpaths for the locals and running tracks for their
children.
Normally, only five to ten people pass along the embankments
each day. But on Sundays as many as 10,000 people use the paths
as shortcuts to the temples.
"Many embankments have disappeared because of passersby and
it's us -- the local people -- who must accept the risks," said
another farmer who, like other locals, now has to trudge through
wet mud to reach his fields.
"It's harvest time now but we've been finding it difficult to
work because the paths across our fields have been destroyed," he
said.
The group of temples was discovered by Indonesian
archeologists in 1982. However the findings only appeared in the
national media a few days before the Idul Fitri holiday last
month.
"Seven of the excavation sites are in the Telaga Jaya village
and the other eleven are in the neighboring Segaran village,"
said Hari Untoro Dradjat, the head of the Directorate of
Protection and Development of Cultural Heritage.
Of the eleven sites, only two -- Candi (temple) Jiwa and Candi
Asem -- are still open to the public. The others have been buried
again by archeologists waiting for a better time to start
restoration work.
All of the temples are located in the middle of a huge area of
rice fields. The water for the fields is supplied from the
Citarum river.
The visitors comes from both the surrounding areas such as
Rengasdengklok and big cities further afield, including Bandung
and Jakarta.
"I came here out of curiosity because many of my neighbors
have been here. Anyway, it's not your business," said a young
woman from Bandung.
Iwan, a junior high school student, said: "I just want to know
for myself what I saw on television."
As public transportation to the site is limited, most visitors
use motorcycles or hire cars to reach the site, which is a two-
hour drive from Jakarta.
The parking fee for any vehicle is Rp 1,000 (US 42 cents),
almost the same as in Jakarta. The entrance fee is Rp 200.
Parking fees
According to the Telaga Jaya village head, M. Ichsan S., the
funds collected from the entrance and parking fees are used to
build the roads to the temples.
"If we depended on the small amount of financial aid from the
local authorities, we wouldn't be able to repair the roads, which
have been badly damaged by the increasing number of motorcyclists
coming to visit the temples," Ichsan said.
Since the announcement of the temples' discovery and tales of
mystery circulated by people, many of the nonasphalted roads
leading to the sites have turned into holes of mud in the rainy
season.
Nevertheless some locals welcomed the development. Dozens of
farmers and their relatives have opened small shops selling
drink, food, fruit and fish.
They allow people to use their toilets for Rp 200. Photos and
copies of newspaper articles about the temples are also sold.