Jl. Gajah Mada three centuries ago

Jl. Gajah Mada three centuries ago

By Ida Indawati Khouw

Jl. Gajah Mada and Jl. Hayam Wuruk in West and Central Jakarta
respectively are streets that motorists avoid during office hours
because of the horrendous traffic. This 67th article on old
Batavia briefly describes this area during its early days some
300 years ago.

JAKARTA (JP): Places around the present-day Jl. Gajah Mada and
Jl. Hayam Wuruk were a filthy residential area infested with
malaria three centuries ago.

Residents, then predominantly Chinese, strived to make their
neighborhood a better place to live in by drying up the swamps.
The area then developed into a busy business and trading center.
Today, the place is one of Jakarta's largest business districts.

In the 1980s, an estimated 60 percent of the money circulation
in Jakarta took place in this particular area. It is also known
as the heart of Jakarta's nightlife. This part of the city never
sleeps.

Few know that the place was once the residence of the elite,
where big and beautiful houses with spacious gardens stood. The
canal between the busy main streets has a unique history. It was
constructed with the citizens' own money.

The story dates back to 1648 when the Chinese accounted for
the majority of the residents. They were under the authority of a
Chinese captain (or kapitan, title given to the leader of certain
ethnic groups) called Phoa Beng Gan, who was also known as Phoa
Bing Gam or Phoa Bing Ham.

This wooded area was regarded a suburb because it was located
outside the walled city of Batavia (present-day Kota). Like all
other "out of town" areas, the land was swampy. Malaria was
epidemic.

A certain Phoa Kian Sioe wrote in an article Seorang Ahli
Pengairan dari Tiongkok, yang Membikin Kali Molenvliet (An
Irrigation Expert from China who Built the Molenvliet River) that
Beng Gan knew that to solve the problem, the swamps would have to
be dried by constructing a canal.

Beng Gan's idea was supported by Kong-koan the Chinese
Council, but the project needed big sums of money and the Dutch
colonial government could not afford to finance it.

"The Chinese Council then urged the people to collect money
for the canal's construction," Kian Sioe said.

The construction of the canal started from the area which is
today the parking lot of the State Secretary's office in Central
Jakarta (in front of Harmonie clubhouse). It was Beng Gan himself
who supervised the work.

There is no information on how long the canal's construction
took but it was only in 1657 that it was named Molenvliet or
"mill way" because a section of the river was diverted to power a
sugar mill.

Kian Sioe described that the swamps then dried up and turned
into fertile lands. Farmers and merchants who had money then
transported their crops in small boats to be traded. Thus the
canal played a role in developing the economy of Batavia.

However, Beng Gan continued to search for other water sources
to prevent the canal from drying up during the dry season as
economic activities depended on the canal for transportation.

The irrigation expert then ventured further to the south after
he was granted land at the Tanah Abang area (in Central Jakarta)
by the Dutch government due to his achievements.

The captain turned the land into a sugar cane plantation and
built another canal to transport the sugar to the city center. At
present the waterway still flows through Jl. Abdul Muis.

The waterway was a multipurpose project. It was used to
transport wood, for ship building and the construction of houses
in the walled city in the north, from the forests in Tanah Abang
and its surrounding area.

Kian Sioe said that due to ill health, Beng Gan was replaced
by Lie Tju Hong. But Myra Sidharta, an expert on sinology, doubts
the accuracy of this information because Tju Hong only became the
Chinese leader in the 19th century.

In the course of time, the Molenvliet turned into an elite
area with spacious houses built by Europeans or Chinese. The rich
chose to live outside the walled city of Batavia because it had
become an unhealthy and dangerous place in 1730s.

Mansions were built along the two roads at the east and the
west sides of the straight three-kilometer canal, namely
Molenvliet Oost street (now Jl. Hayam Wuruk) and Molenvliet West
street (now Jl. Gajah Mada).

Writer Maya Jayapal said the Europeans built single story (for
fear of earthquakes) and red-tiled houses.

"They were spacious whitewashed dwellings adapted to tropical
living and, unlike the houses of the old town, were set apart by
deep verandas, classic columns and floors of marble and red
tiles, uncovered to remain cool to the touch," Jayapal said in
the book Old Jakarta.

Molenvliet then linked the so-called "lower town" (Kota area)
and the upper town (in the south).

Scott Merrillees described in his book Batavia in Nineteenth
Century Photographs that it was common for many Europeans in the
second half of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th
century to commute along Molenvliet from their homes in the south
to their offices in the old city of the north.

"Horse-drawn carriages were the first mode of transport for
this purpose but from 1869, there was also the option of using
horse-drawn trams. Thirteen years later in 1882, steam trams were
introduced, followed by electric trams from 1900," he said.

A French visitor described the straight three-kilometer area
in 1810 as streets where people could get some fresh air. It was
also one of the most beautiful spots (in the city) with
splendid mansions belonging to high ranking officials and rich
merchants.

But Merrillees said other visitors in 1862 had a different
description of it. They had described it as "the very dusty road
along the perfectly straight canal with poor public lighting."

In the early 20th century, people used the canal for various
purposes.

Jayapal said the Javanese "immersed" themselves in the waters
for a number of reasons: for washing clothes on long, bamboo-
legged washboards; as a vast sink for cleaning cooking utensils;
and for bathing.

"They are full of people, not boats but people, and they walk
into the water fully dressed and stand there in bright array
washing the most maddeningly beautiful garments like masses of
bright flowers," Jayapal said.

Kian Sioe said the attractive part of Molenvliet was indeed in
its "bathing beauty". "... along the river people will be able to
view nude women," he said.