Heuken: Tracing the history of Jakarta

Heuken: Tracing the history of Jakarta

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

If you have lived in Jakarta for some time or even, let's say,
for dozens of years, this simple question will be hard to answer
correctly: How old is the city?

Posters on display at the Jakarta Fair in July this year said
that the capital was celebrating its 476th anniversary. That's
the official answer from the Jakarta administration.

However, if you couldn't answer correctly, don't take it to
heart. Knowing the exact age doesn't give you a better
understanding of the history of Jakarta unless you take a
critical stance, like that consistently shown by the author of
Historical Sites of Jakarta, Adolf Heuken, 74, who is also a
Jesuit priest.

You may be surprised to know that the city's official age is
most probably wrong!

"It makes no sense that the year of the city's founding is
simply the same as the year when the name of the city was
mentioned for the first time in old documents on Jakarta," Heuken
argued.

He added that the name of the city must have existed before it
was first referred to in a document written by Portuguese
traders, dating back to 1560.

"Maybe the city's name existed 30 years before it was
mentioned in the document. That would make sense," he asserted.

Heuken said some older documents were written by Portuguese in
1513, but the writers still used the name Sunda Kelapa or merely
Kelapa (instead of Jacatra).

Heuken is not a historian, but his critical perspective has
made him stand out. He has written many history books on Jakarta
using a very wide range of sources and materials, including old
documents in English, Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese, Latin, Dutch,
German and Sanskrit.

He used a variety of sources in order to obtain a more
objective version of historical facts, to cut through the bias of
the original writers.

"You have to be mindful of their interests (of the original
writers)," said Heuken.

His insistence on objectivity in history writing is prompted
by the existence of many "history" books that contain more
propaganda than factual information.

"Children are repeatedly cheated by being told that history
books say such and such. That's what I hate the most. If
something cannot be known about with certainty, it's better to
say that it's either a guess or legend or a story. Don't claim it
to be history," he said.

Smart children understand that they have been cheated and ask:
"Why do schools cheat students?" and then start to believe that
all history is lies, Heuken said.

In addition to Historical Sites of Jakarta, which will be
reprinted for the seventh times next year, he has published
several books about Jakarta: Menteng-taman kota pertama di
Indonesia (Menteng -- the first urban park in Indonesia),
Galangan Kapal Batavia selama 300 tahun (Batavia, dockyard for
300 years) and The Earlier Portuguese Sources for the History of
Jakarta.

This year, he published three volumes of Gedung-gedung ibadat
yang tua di Jakarta (Old worship buildings in Jakarta)

"I just want people to become more critical with regard to
their understanding of the history of their own city, based on
original documents (on Jakarta)," he said.

He said he was aiming to publish a book of photos on several
places in Jakarta before World War II, to introduce people to the
situation in the city in bygone times.

Although very productive in writing books about Jakarta,
Heuken claimed that the activity was only his side job.

"I mustn't spend too much time (writing books on Jakarta). If
I became a full-time writer of books on Jakarta, I could write
several books per year," he boasted.

He has collected an array of old documents and books about
Jakarta in a massive library at his residence on Jl. Moh. Yamin,
Central Jakarta.

"I could produce 10 more books; it's just a matter of time.
Writing books on Jakarta is only my side job. I have other
priorities -- to write an encyclopedia of the church," he said,
highlighting his status as a Catholic priest.

Son of teacher Franz Heuken and Clara Heuken, the priest was
born on July 17 1929 in Munster, West Germany.

He studied philosophy in Munich from 1953 to 1956 and
continued his studies in theology in Frankfurt.

He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1961 and then sent to
Indonesia in 1963. Since 1967 he has lived on Jl. Moh. Yamin and
has been the sole author of publisher Cipta Loka Caraka until
today.

Heuken has also published more than 100 books on various
themes, including Catholic social teachings, psychology and
religion, marriage, an encyclopedia of saints, an encyclopedia
for teenagers and a Indonesia-German dictionary.

Commenting on developments in Jakarta, Heuken expressed his
disappointment and deep concern.

"Development in Jakarta has simply got out of hand, out of
control," he said, citing that he had witnessed every change in
the city for at least 40 years.

He observed that the low level of public interest, combined
with a poor understanding of the city's history, were the root
cause of so much of the city's destruction.

"Jakarta has become like other cities in Southeast Asia.
That's really bad. Jakarta still has lots of documents and
buildings unique to the city. Most of the other capitals in the
region, like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney and Manila are much
younger (than Jakarta)," he said.

"Jakartans should oppose the wanton destruction of the city's
history."