Indians a notable feature in Pasar Baru

Anton Doni, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Passer Baroe, known nowadays as Pasar Baru, was originally the Chinatown of Jakarta.

Since the late 1940s, people of Indian descent began to contribute to a more colorful Pasar Baru.

Nowadays, the area is associated more with Indians than Chinese.

Along Jl. Dr Soetomo on its southern margins, you can clearly see Indian symbols. The most striking is the Gandhi Institute of Business and Technology with its four-floor building.

In the same street, there is another striking symbol -- a billboard with "Bollywood" in bold lettering. It is a former restaurant that was housed in a three-story building. Bank IndoMonex, next to Bollywood, is another prominent symbol of India in this road.

Aside from these, other buildings are adorned with Indian symbols: Gandhi Kindergarten, Sri Sathya Sai Baba Indonesia cultural center and a textile house named Hariom's.

In total, there are about 110 retail establishments at Pasar Baru, with most owned by Indian or Chinese businesspeople.

In addition to these premises, Pasar Baru is also home to places of worship for the Indian community. There at least seven temples.

Most of these are not particularly striking, except for Gurudwara Sikh Temple in Jl. Pasar Baru Timur.

Together with eight mosques, seven small mosques, 11 Protestant churches, and four Buddhist temples, these Indian temples help to maintain the religious life of the whole community of Pasar Baru.

Indian stores, schools and places of worship are not exclusively for Indian people. Many Indonesians with Javanese and Chinese background also use them.

In the stores there are many Indonesian employees. In the elementary schools and kindergarten, there are many Chinese and Javanese students.

The kindergarten principal is a Javanese woman. And even in the temples, there are to be found many Indonesian employees from different religious backgrounds.

Thus, crosscultural interaction occurs every day.

Apart from doing business, studying and worshiping, Pasar Baru is also a place where many Indian people live. Data from the Sindhi Directory shows that at least 87 Indian families live in this area.

According to official statistics, there are probably around 500 to 1,000 people of Indian descent in the area. Although this seems quite high, it constitutes only around 4 percent to 8 percent of the total population of Pasar Baru, which totals 13,196.

This represents a slight decline, as some Indians have moved to other locations in Sunter and Kelapa Gading.

As far as economic survival and maintaining its cultural identity are concerned, the Indian community in Jakarta has been successful.

Geeta, 25, who recently graduated from the Gandhi Institute of Business and Technology, is a good example. This is how she defines her identity: "I am an Indian girl born in Jakarta."

Nonetheless, the challenge remains for the Indian community to integrate more with the rest of the neighborhood.

The writer is a researcher at the Research and Development Unit of The Jakarta Post.