History lives on in decaying Bengkulu cemetery

History lives on in decaying Bengkulu cemetery

By Maswandi

BENGKULU, Bengkulu (Antara): A window into Britain's brief colonial occupation of Indonesia in the 19th century is found in this city on the Sumatran coast.

Sites such as Marlborough Fort, Thomas Parr Monument and the British Cemetery, to mention a few, invoke the past.

The British Cemetery, which is home to 105 graves of British soldiers and their relatives, has lapsed into a state of neglect although it is located only 500 meters from the heart of the city.

Like other cemeteries in Bengkulu, tall grass has overrun the tombs. Engravings on the gravestones, worn by the elements and time, are hard to decipher.

Within the 10,000 square meter complex, there are three houses which are home to five families and the offices of the local village chief, consultative body, youth association, Islamic religious affairs and cooperative. There is also a church.

There are also the graves of 15 North Tapanuli migrants although no officials could explain how non-British subjects could be buried at the site.

The construction of new buildings, the presence of the Tapanuli graves and the expansion of a road that slices through the complex have contributed to mar the beauty of the historical site.

"Our plan to relocate the buildings has been postponed time and again. The scene is very chaotic there," said Firdaus RB, the Jitra village chief.

Initially, the only office was for the cemetery keeper. In the course of time and as the city grew, people's activities began to encroach on the prime piece of real estate.

Tombs in the British Cemetery have different shapes, sizes and designs according to the social status of their occupants.

Aristocrats, physicians, chiefs of the Marlborough Fort and ship captains were provided better final resting places than ordinary troops.

Tombs of aristocrats living in Marlborough Fort were built with elegant designs and are higher than local people's houses nearby. For example, Mrs. M. Baillie and J.N. Lancaster, who died in 1810 and 1821 respectively, were buried in the same five meter by six meter dome-shaped tomb which has a height of eight meters.

Other tombs nearby are three meters by four meters and 3.5 meters by four meters. Their height is between two meters and three meters, with engravings at both ends. To obtain the full view of the cemetery, one has to climb onto the top of the yellow walls around the complex.

Among the names on the gravestones near the walls are Capt. Robert Hall, Capt. Thomas Tapps, Frances Maclane, Alexander Yakobs, Charles Alexander and Jane P. Divine.

The tombs of ordinary soldiers and fort guards are similar to those of the local Malays, except that the British people's gravestones are decorated with images of skulls, tigers or lions.

Some tombs do not bear the identity of the deceased and other names have worn away with the passage of time and assault by the elements.

"As far as I know, some tombs did not bear the identity of the deceased and others had theirs worn down by the weather," said Bustami, who has lived in the area for dozens of years.

Tombs bear sequence numbers. Some have lost parts of the graves and others are leaning. Not all rows are well arranged.

Data on the graves show most of the people died between the ages of 22 and 35.

It is said that malaria was endemic and killed without discrimination the indigenous people, Indians brought in to build Marlborough Fort and the British.

The cemetery underwent renovation over the past decade. The project was sponsored by K. M Cateer and N. S Campbell, according to Bustami. It was dedicated by the then British ambassador Roger J. Carrick and Bengkulu governor Razie Jachja on Sept. 2, 1991.

Bustami said the British Embassy allocated Rp 75,000 a month for him for maintenance of the cemetery. But the funds stopped after one year and the complex has been largely neglected since then.

"Now, two or three people come to clean the complex at the beginning of the month for two days with simple equipment. That's why the cemetery looks terribly neglected," he said.

Musar Danis, chief of the Bengkulu provincial tourist office, acknowledged that the cemetery attracted few foreign visitors.

Of the 8,540 foreign tourists who visited Bengkulu in 1998, 1,985 were British and 1,300 of them visited the cemetery, Danis said.

He speculated that low foreign visitor arrivals was because of Bengkulu's poor accessibility from other major tourist destinations in Sumatra.

Tourists usually travel from neighboring major destinations like Bukittinggi, Medan and Bandarlampung, but land transportation is the only means along this route.

It takes about 18 hours by bus or car from the cool highlands of Bukittinggi in West Sumatra. Travel by plane requires a stopover in Jakarta.

The Bengkulu and West Sumatra provincial governments have agreed to establish air transportation between Padang and Bengkulu, a move which is expected to improve tourist development in the two provinces. With more tourists, Bengkulu's crumbling British Cemetery may earn a new lease on life.