Jakarta tour a stroll down memory lane
Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
"Group four, please gather here!" shouted our guide Alie.
About 30 people clustered together in a group on Jl. Veteran, Central Jakarta, on a recent morning as Alie ordered us to smile for a photographer.
Alie was one of seven guides for about 200 participants in the Plezieran Tempo Doeloe naar Weltevreden program, a walking tour of old sites in the center of the city.
Organized by Sahabat Museum (Friends of Museums), the initial program was to visit old buildings in the area known as Weltevreden during the Dutch colonial period, encompassing Gambir, Banteng Square and Pasar Baru.
To our surprise, each group of participants received a roti buaya (crocodile bread) just like in the song Picnic by Naif. My five-year-old son -- who was finally persuaded to come along after we told him he would get free ice cream from Ragusa Es Italia -- was even happier when he was given the bread.
From the starting point in front of Ragusa on Jl. Veteran no. 10 -- formerly known as Citadelweg -- we walked to Istiqlal Mosque, which used to be the site of Wilhelmina Park, passing the Koningsplein, now the National Monument.
The Koningsplein was the venue for the Jakarta Fair and Pasar Gambir, a night market held in conjunction with the annual fair.
Ragusa owner Buntoro Kurniawan remembered that his establishment opened a counter at Pasar Gambir beginning in 1932.
"We would only do business once a year during the Jakarta Fair for the whole month," he said.
"The unique thing about Ragusa was that there were telephones at several tables with numbers. People could communicate with others via telephone from the counter.
"It was very useful for guys who had a crush on girls who visited our counter," he added, laughing.
Alie informed us that Gambir was named after a Frenchman called Van Gambir, something new to most of us.
We continued our journey to Banteng square, once called Waterlooplein or Parade Plaats (plaza).
"The name Waterlooplein was given to commemorate the defeat of the French at Waterloo. Therefore, the Dutch government built a small lion statue to mock the French," Alie said.
"Since the square hosted parades every Sunday, it was named Parade Plaats."
Banteng today is home to the West Irian Freedom statue, showing a man breaking free of chains.
It was then off to the Ministry of Finance building, which had been the palace of Daendels, a governor general of the Dutch government. It has been modernized, but there is still something spooky about it.
Next to the palace is the Supreme Court, once the justice department. Although I am a longtime Jakarta resident, this was news to me (where have I been all these years?)
As I bemoaned my poor history knowledge, we headed to the Kimia Farma building, once the Vritmetselaar.
A security guard told us that we should have visited the Budi Utomo school next door.
"It used to be the prison for political detainees. Many died there," he muttered ominously.
OK, enough of the macabre.
It was getting hotter, so we made a quick visit to Stadsshcouwburg, now Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, Passer Baroe (Pasar Baru), Kantoor Post Telegraaf en Telefoon which now serves as the Philately Museum and then returned to Jl. Veteran.
The tour, at a cost of Rp 20,000 (US$2.5), took about two hours. It is not too taxing on adults, but it might be far for young children (some of the latter in our group asked their parents to carry them).
It's also hard to hear the guides, as they do not use a megaphone, and several of us jostled for position closer to Alie. It's advisable to wear comfortable sneakers, a T-shirt with shorts or jeans, and put on plenty of sunblock.
Credit must be given to Sahabat Museum, not only for the free ice cream (a real highlight of the tour), but for opening our eyes to the history of our city.
Next on Sahabat's agenda is a visit to Sunda Kelapa area in North Jakarta by the end of June. Those who are interested in taking part should contact sahabatmuseum@yahoo.com.