Houses serve as memorials to Sept. 30 coup
Each year people around the country fly the national flag at half-mast to commemorate the murder of seven Army generals in the hours between the night of Sept. 30, 1965 and the early hours of Oct. 1 in Jakarta. The city administration in 1983 named some of the locations which played a part in the killings, including the generals' residences, protected historic sites. However, some of these buildings have been sold and a number of the buildings' owners claim not to know their properties are protected under the law. This story is accompanied by a report on the fate of the 86- year-old immigration office, also a protected building. These are the seventh and eighth articles in a planned series about Jakarta's historical buildings which will run in the Saturday editions of The Jakarta Post.
JAKARTA (JP): The official version of the September 1965 killing of seven top generals and a little girl is familiar to the nation, mainly due to a concerted propaganda campaign by the New Order regime of Soeharto.
But mystery and controversy remain about the fateful event which propelled Soeharto, then commander of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), to power.
Kidnapped and killed on that night, commonly known by the acronym G 30 S PKI, were a three-star general, three two-star generals, two one-star generals and one lieutenant.
They were Lt. Gen. Ahmad Yani, Maj. Gen. R. Suprapto, Maj. Gen. Siswondo Parman, Maj. Gen. Mas Tirtodarmo Harjono, Brig. Gen. Soetojo Siswomihardjo, Brig. Gen. Donald Isaacus Pandjaitan, and First Lt. Pierre Andreas Tendean.
Also slain was five-year-old Ade Irma Surjani Nasution, the youngest daughter of Gen. Ahmad Harris Nasution who escaped the kidnapping.
The government instituted nationwide commemoration of the event, which it blamed on cadres of the then powerful Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).
Each of the men received a posthumous promotion to a higher rank and their names were immortalized on streets in many cities across the country.
A huge monument to the seven victims was erected at Lubang Buaya (Crocodile Hole) in East Jakarta where the men were tortured and their bodies dumped.
In 1983, then governor Surjadi Soedirdja issued a decree officially marking for preservation all buildings related to the tragedy. They include the six houses of the generals, the Kostrad building and Lubang Buaya.
It is unclear why the house of Nasution, who was elevated to the rank of five-star general in retirement, was not on the list. Apart from Ade, Tendean was posted at his house when he was kidnapped.
Nasution himself is unable to give a definite answer on why his 2,300 square meter Dutch-style residence on Jl. Teuku Umar 40 in Menteng, Central Jakarta, was left off the list of protected buildings.
"I plan to build a museum on the right side of the main building of my house. The museum would display my collection of antique weapons and some 3,500 books," Nasution, now 81, told The Jakarta Post at his home on Tuesday.
He added: "We also don't want to remove the remnants of the bullet marks on the wall. By not doing so, we can always remember my daughter Ade Irma."
The former head of the military continues to live in the house with his wife Yohana Sunarti and the family of his daughter, Hendriyanti Sahara Nasution.
"I've stayed in this building since 1950. My father-in-law Mr. Gondokusumo (former president of Bank Bumiputera) granted me the building worth 800,000 guilden. He bought the building from the former top Dutch military officer Maj. Gen. Van Langeen, who flew back to his country in 1950," Nasution said.
He said the building had not undergone major renovation.
Gen. Ahmad Yani's former residence on nearby Jl. Lembang has also remained virtually untouched.
"The building has remained the same as it was on Oct. 1, 1966, when it was inaugurated as the Sasmita Loka Museum of Revolutionary War Heroes," Mudjianto, one of the museum's employees, said.
"All of the objects in the building have also been maintained as they were in 1966.
"Additional buildings, including the museum's office and the main hall, were constructed the following year."
The neo-classical building houses Gen. Yani's personal belongings, including the gifts he received during his trips abroad, plus a number of the guns and rifles which were used to kill the seven men.
The house of Gen. Soeprapto on nearby Jl. Besuki 19 is now home to his youngest son, Arief Soeprapto.
Arief said the city administration was overdue in naming the house a protected site.
"They should have decided that right after the killing of my father."
He said the family renovated some parts of the house before receiving a copy of the decree on preserved buildings in the city.
"We did not make significant changes but the interior is slightly different from how it used to be," Arief said.
The renovation was financed by the military, he added.
Jl. Serang 32 (now Jl. Syamsu Rizal) in Menteng witnessed the abduction of Siswondo Parman, father of Lt. Gen. Sutiyono.
It is now the site of a two-story modern residence owned by Rear Adm. (ret) Abdul Hakim.
"I bought the house and its land in 1991 from the late S. Parman's son, Lt. Gen. Sutiyono," Hakim said.
The house was dilapidated when he bought it, he added.
"According to the city planning agency's registration, the house was allowed to be demolished," Hakim explained.
He said officials from the Ministry of Art and Culture offered funds for the house's preservation in 1993. He said he rejected because "it was too late".
The house of Harjono on Jl. Prambanan in the same district remains virtually the same as when he was abducted.
Located on a 1,000-square-meter plot with the Ciliwung River flowing through the back yard, the 400-square-meter house is still occupied by his widow Mariatna and two of their four children, Enda and Adipramanto.
Enda said the government did a lot to help preserve the house, which her father bought from a Dutch family in the 1950s.
"The government even provided a sketch of our house that marks parts of the property regarded as objects of cultural heritage."
However, due to the house's status, the family has built a pavilion in the backyard to provide more space.
Nani Nurrachman, 49, one of the two children of the late Soetojo Siswomihardjo, is also intent on preserving her family's home.
The lecturer of the School of Psychology of the University of Indonesia and her brother, Lt. Gen. Agus Wijoyo, 52, currently head of the Military and Staff Command School in Bandung, agreed not to sell the house.
Located at Jl. Sumenep 17, it is still the home of their mother, Soeparmi, 79.
"It's the legacy of my father," Nani said.
Word about the protected status of the homes does not seem to have reached the family of Pandjaitan living at Jl. Hasanuddin 53 in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.
"It's private property. The government couldn't do anything without our permission," said Tuthy Pandjaitan, the third daughter of the late general.
She professed to not knowing anything about the protected building status.
She said her family had not made significant changes to the roughly 2,000-square-meter house since the death of her father in the front yard of the home.
Tuthy said her father was the only general killed at his residence.
"They threatened to blow up the house with a grenade if my father did not come out," she said.
A visit to Lubang Buaya provides a view of the carnage and violence which occurred on that night.
It is strongly advised that the squeamish and the young do not take a trip to the site, which is also home to the Pancasila Sakti Museum, because it is a gory experience.
The Kostrad compound remains closed to public visits although a museum was reportedly built.
Maj. Soekandar, 57, said a museum faithfully depicting how the command was in 1965 when Soeharto was in charge was constructed in 1983.
"I have no idea why it's still closed to the public," he said. "It might have something to do with politics."
With grim monuments to our history judged as fitting for preservation, the country will be assured of more protected buildings should the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) rule the country later.
Set to be on the top of the list would be its ruined office on Jl. Diponegoro, site of a bloody takeover in 1997. (03/04/asa/bsr/jun/ylt/imn)