Jakarta graves left left for dead

Jakarta graves left left for dead

By Annastashya Emmanuelle

JAKARTA (JP): For many Jakartans "dead and buried" literally
means being forgotten, as nearly half the graves in the city are
reportedly neglected.

Data from the city's Public Cemetery Agency shows that about
50 percent of graves in the 96 public cemeteries across the
capital are neglected by families of the deceased.

According to city officials, families often do not even bother
extending the three-year lease for the grave of their departed
kin.

Deputy chief of the control and counseling division of the
agency, Abdillah, said that financial reasons were often cited as
the primary reason, as well as living relatives moving out of
town.

Mohammad Sirin, head of Menteng Pulo cemetery in South
Jakarta, said, "most (relatives) said they were unable to pay the
grave lease."

"But I think there are also people who simply don't care about
their deceased. The fee is not that expensive," Sirin added.

City Bylaw No. 3/1999 stipulates that the fees range from Rp
4,000 (43 U.S. cents) to Rp 100,000 (US$11) for a 3-year period,
depending on the location of the grave.

"It's like in real estate, the closer it is to the marketing
office, the more expensive it is," Sirin said jokingly.

From about 51,000 graves in the 32 hectare Menteng Pulo
cemetery, up to half of the leases have expired or graves are
unkempt.

The cemetery office will send three notifications to family
members within three months of a lease's expiry. If the lease is
not renewed, the grave sites are usually "remarketed".

The remains of the grave's previous occupant are placed at the
feet of the new occupant of the grave.

"This way, family members of the previous occupant of the
grave can easily move their family member's remains should they
wish to reclaim them," Sirin explained.

If a family already has a close relative buried in the
cemetery, the office would also suggest that the remains of the
newly departed be stacked above the previous one in order to save
space.

"Therefore, the family would only have to pay for one grave
instead of two," Sirin said, adding that the first deceased must
have been buried for at least one year before adding another
family member.

Apart from the abandoned graves, many of the sites in Menteng
Pulo cemetery are currently being moved as a result of the city
administration's decision to develop a public park at the front
sides of the cemetery, which is divided by Jl. Casablanca.

Graves located within 10 meters from the street are being
moved to abandoned graves further inside the Menteng Pulo
cemetery, or to the Kampung Kandang cemetery in North Jakarta.

"Since Jl. Casablanca is one of Jakarta's main roads, it is
unsightly to have graves along the street. Therefore, we're going
to transform the first 10 meters of the graveyard adjacent to the
street into a park," Abdillah told The Jakarta Post.

As many as 1,003 graves are being moved, of which 858 have
reportedly been abandoned.

There will be no charge for family members who's relative's
graves are moved and they are free to either relocate their
deceased kin further inside Menteng Pulo cemetery or to Kampung
Kandang cemetery.

One visitor to the cemetery, Suparni, who's mother was buried
in Menteng Pulo in 1979, believes the arrangement is quite fair.

"Since they are covering all the expenses, I don't think our
family would have a problem with it," she said.

"(But) we're going to discuss it with the rest of the family
first before deciding," she added.

Suparni and her siblings were inspecting the location of the
new grave site on Monday after they read about the city's plan in
the newspaper.