Historical places lure determined tourist

Historical places lure determined tourist

By Yoko N. Sari

JAKARTA (JP): Several elderly tourists from the Netherlands
listened carefully to an explanation about the ruins on Onrust
island provided by a guide. The ruins are all that remain of huge
windmills built to cut logs to repair colonial ships.

"The windmills were used to cut logs to repair the merchant
ships when the island was used as a dock by the Dutch trading
company VOC," the guide told them.

The tourists were lucky to have an expert as their guide. His
name is Lodewyk J. Wagenaar, a curator/conservator from the
Amsterdam Historical Museum.

Then, the group headed to a Dutch graveyard where at least 41
people are buried. The cemetery is a mess, with tombstones
scattered all around. Whatever marble markers once existed have
been stolen from the graves.

Yet the tourists seemed to enjoy the trip there as Wagenaar
drew them into the past with stories of life on the island when
the Netherlands was still occupying Indonesia.

The tourists were participating in specially designed tour,
called "historical tourism".

One tourist, who was born in Pasar Ikan, North Jakarta, and
used to visit the island when he was a boy, said, "I smell the
past."

It is a fact that Jakarta does not have as many interesting
tourist sites as other places in the country, such as Bali or
West Java and Central Java, but the city does have something that
has the potential to attract tourists from around the world.
Jakarta is rich in historical ruins. The city itself reflects a
long and colorful history.

Historical tourism is a new approach which is expected to
boost the tourist industry in the city. But much remains to be
done by the municipal administration to promote the capital as an
interesting place to see.

The Kota area in West Jakarta for example contains the roots
of the very beginnings of this sprawling city. It used to be the
center of the city and some of the historical and other old
buildings located there are now museums. There are four major
museums there.

Another place believed to have the potential to attract
tourists is the Seribu Island chain, of which four of the isles
have historical ruins: Onrust, Kelor, Cipir and Bidadari.

Onrust

Onrust island, about 50 minutes from Marina Ancol, has a lot
of ruins from the Dutch colonial period, that if properly
promoted could attract tourists wanting to know more about the
history of Indonesia during that time.

The island was used by Dutch merchants as a dock in 1615
before the VOC developed the island and started to put up
buildings. In 1671 a pentagon-shaped fort was established. The
island was then used as a quarantine center for haj pilgrims from
1911 to 1933.

The ruins are in such a poorly preserved state at this time,
however, that most people would not understand their function,
nor their historical significance, if they visited the islands
without expert tourist guides.

For most people, the island of Onrust, which means "always
busy" in Dutch, seems an eerie, desolated place because most of
the buildings are not there anymore. One hundred years ago the
island was the center of the activities surrounding the vital
merchant ships. Now little more than ruins and graves remain.

The City Museum and Historical Office recognizes the potential
of the islands to attract tourists, especially those from the
Netherlands. However, a tight budget has hampered its efforts to
preserve or restore various elements of Jakarta's archeological
heritage in the Seribu Islands.

Head of the Exhibition and Promotion Department of the Jakarta
Tourism Office Tinia Budiati said recently that due to financial
constraints her office has been able to do little to restore the
historical sites. "All we can do is upgrade part of them
gradually."

She explained that her office has asked the municipal
administration to undertake a huge project expected to change the
island into an open air museum. The administration has yet to
respond to the proposal.

Budget

"The proposed project is aimed at restoring the buildings and
facilities once standing there, so people can enjoy and
understand the history of the island," Tinia said.

"We have to do this to make the island more attractive so more
tourists, local and foreign, will visit it," she said.

She feared that the Jakarta administration simply has more
important programs as priorities and can't focus on preserving
the heritage. "My office may have to try to finance the project
at its own expense."

From 1979 to 1990 the office did some excavation work on the
island to find and expose the structures expected to expose
elements of the way of life on the island between 1615 and 1800.

The excavation activities were mostly aimed at determining the
locations of the main building on the island, the pentagon-shaped
fort, and the two windmills which were built during that time.

"The excavation work was done on the basis of a map drawn by
Heydt in 1740, which described the location of those buildings,"
Tinia said.

She explained that the results have not been as satisfactory
as hoped. Her office has only been able to find the foundations
of the main building and the windmills. These ruins mean nothing
to visitors without the guidance and explanation of experts.

Onrust Island will only have adequate significance for the
historical tourism program, if the city administration rebuilds
the fort, barracks and windmills.

Even the Dutch historian Wagenaar said that it is important to
revive this history to help younger generation to understand the
historical importance of the island.

"It is true that to rebuild the island exactly like it was in
the 17th century needs a lot of funds. But it should be done and
I believe it is worth doing for the sake of history," Wagenaar
said.