Generals, corporals treated alike at cemetry

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Do you want something different to do with your family on a day off? Try the graveyard tour offered by the Kalibata National Heroes Cemetery in Kalibata, South Jakarta.

The tour is open for any group with about 20 members and lasts for two hours, during which you can explore the 25-hectare cemetery and learn all about the site.

The first thing many people have in their minds, is what kind of heroes deserve a grave at the cemetery.

Rozhali Ishak, head of the cemetery administrative office, explained that the cemetery is for people who are awarded the title of a national hero by the President, or have received the Bintang Republik Indonesia, Bintang Sakti, Bintang Mahaputra or Bintang Gerilya awards for their service to the country. Those who have not received the awards may also be buried in the cemetery if they died during a war or while on duty.

There are also some who are not included in those categories, but can be buried in the cemetery upon the President's approval. One example is Baharuddin Lopa, the former attorney general who died in Saudi Arabia in July.

Ishak said that the title of national hero had been awarded to 112 people by a president. Only 38 of them are buried at the heroes cemetery.

Most of the people buried in the cemetery were the recipients of the Bintang Gerilya, awarded to those who died fighting for Indonesian independence.

The Kalibata National Heroes Cemetery was established in 1954 and is managed by the Ministry of Social Affairs. It is the only national heroes cemetery in the country. Previously, the national heroes cemetery was in the Ancol area, North Jakarta.

The remains of as many as 121 bodies from Ancol were relocated to Kalibata, while the first to be buried there was the body of H. Agus Salim, a founder of the organization Sarekat Islam and a foreign affairs minister in 1947.

So far, the cemetery has 7,075 people buried there, while it has a total capacity of 10,000 graves.

Among the well known people buried there are former vice president Adam Malik and former army commander A.H. Nasution.

Rozhali said that the administration provides the same treatment for all heroes.

All funerals are conducted with a military ceremony, performed by a group of Jakarta garrison officers, and bodies are buried in a 1 meter by 2 meter plot.

"The body of a general will be treated the same as that of a corporal here," Rozhali told The Jakarta Post earlier this week.

Some 80 Ministry of Social Affairs employees and garrison officers manage the graveyard.

Rozhali said that there are between 100 and 200 visitors to the graveyard every day, the majority of whom are family members of the deceased buried there. Some students visit for study.

"Indonesians, unlike the Japanese, tend to ignore heroes," he said.