Historical Somba Opu Fort, a story of sheer neglect

Historical Somba Opu Fort, a story of sheer neglect

Hasanuddin Hamid, Contributor, Makassar, South Sulawesi

Originally, the excavation of the Somba Opu fort, which began
in 1986 and was completed in 1990, was intended to make this a
historical legacy from the 16th century at Gowa Kingdom South
Sulawesi in Miniature park.

However, after the excavation was completed, the provincial
administration of South Sulawesi used this fort as the venue for
the region's cultural week only three times.

The project is in great neglect today. In fact, you can find
in the 540-hectare fort area traditional houses of the Buginese,
Makassarese, Mandarese and Torajan ethnic groups. Several houses
are in good repair, while others are not. The Mamasan traditional
houses, for example, have damaged roofs and main columns damaged.

In late 2001, the provincial administration handed over the
management of the Somba Opu fort to the regent of Gowa, Syahrul
Yasin Limpo, who said that he would put in order the historical
asset, which has been in a state of neglect over the last five
years.

Syahrul said that he would rearrange the infrastructure
related to the fort and then restore the function of the Somba
Opu as originally planned, namely as a historical, cultural and
tourist site.

In developing this area, Gowa regency administration will
cooperate with a subsidiary of the Lippo Group, namely PT GMTD
(Gowa Makassar Tourism Development), a company developing the
Tanjung Bunga area, a self-supporting city connecting the Losari
Beach area and the area around the fort.

Syahrul said that negotiations had yet to be finalized because
the joint management of the area could begin only when the
provincial administration got the go-ahead from South Sulawesi
legislative council.

The Somba Opu fort, which used to be the seat of the Kingdom
of Gowa, was built at the instruction of the first king of Gowa,
Daeng Matanre Karaeng Tumapa'risi Kallonna, who ruled between
1510 and 1546. Later King Gowa X, I Mariogau Daeng Bonto Karaeng
Lakiung Tunipallangga, instigated some improvements to the fort.

In historical records, before the construction of this fort,
the seat of the Kingdom of Gowa was located at Tamalate Hill.
Then the seat of this kingdom was moved to the fort of Somba Opu,
an area surrounded by the River Jeneberang to the north and the
River Ujung Pucu to the south in anticipation of an attack by the
Portuguese forces, which controlled Malacca in 1511.

Gunadi, head of the South and South-East Sulawesi office of
historical and archaeological relics and concurrently the
Ujungpandang Fort Foundation chief, said meanwhile that once the
Somba Opu Fort became the cultural center of South Sulawesi, two
things had to be taken into account, namely its preservation as a
an object of cultural interest and its utilization.

The idea of establishing a South Sulawesi in Miniature park
was inspired by the development of the Borobodur Temple Tourist
Park in Central Java and a similar park for the Prambanan Temple
near Yogyakarta.

Gunadi argued that the remnants of the Somba Opu Fort would
have to be included in the nucleus zone in the context of
preserving objects as they would later be utilized as objects for
cultural tourism.

But he regretted that nothing had been done regarding the
badly damaged Mamasan traditional house, an indication that it
was not yet clear which government institution was responsible
for dealing with the problem.

Recently, no activity has been seen at Somba Opu Fort. Even
those assigned to guard some traditional houses, when interviewed
by The Jakarta Post, said that only small groups of people made
use of the fort, for example for working meetings of some
students' organizations.

"They usually select one of the traditional houses to their
liking and then make a donation toward the maintenance," said Abd
Kadir.

Assigned to keep guard at a Bugis traditional house, Kadir
said he earned Rp 150,000 every month, a meager amount far from
sufficient for him, but certainly not discouraging him from
sticking to his job, as he was really fond of it.

At present, the entry fee to Somba Opu Fort for an adult is Rp
1,700 while for a child it is only Rp 1,000. Entrance fees cannot
be expected to be enough for the maintenance of the fort because
there are only a few visitors, as it has still to present
attractive events.

As the fort is actually an attractive historic site, Gunadi
hopes Gowa regency administration has thought of proper ways to
develop and save Somba Opu Fort.