Longing for the Alun-alun in Bandung

Longing for the Alun-alun in Bandung

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

For 32-year-old Asep Romli, a vendor of bottled drinks in Dalem
Kaum, Bandung Square, locally known as Alun-alun Bandung, has a
special history.

He left his village in Manonjaya, Tasikmalaya, for Bandung in
1985 for a better life and helped his uncle sell drinks like
bottled tea and mineral water and cigarettes somewhere at the
Alun-alun. Since then the Alun-alun has been his second home.

"I eat here and also sleep here when there is no rain as I
have to take care of this cart. When it rains, I move the cart a
little to the terrace of the Grand Mosque (on the western side),"
he told The Jakarta Post.

Asep took over the business after his uncle passed away.

He sells bottled drinks and cigarettes under the Angsana
(Burmese rosewood) tree in front of the fountain on the western
side of the Alun-alun.

Earning a living there night and day, Asep is also a witnesses
to the night life at the Alun-alun.

"I sell things to 'ordinary' people during the day but at
night my customers are sex workers. Well, for me they are just
customers. What matters to me most is that what I do is not
something my religion forbids," Asep said.

In 2000 the mosque and the square were renovated, causing Asep
and dozens of sex workers to lose their earnings. Asep now rents
a room in a narrow alley somewhere in Balonggede and has moved
his small business to the eastern side of the square.

Personal histories

Nearly every Bandung resident has their own memory of the
Alun-alun. In the 1990s, for example, Ronny Suyanto, 28, made
this square a place where he waited for the time to break his
fast during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan.

Together with five friends, he cycled a distance of 15
kilometers from his home to the square, just to while away their
time to forget their thirst and hunger for a while at the Alun-
alun.

"I cannot imagine now how cheerful we were traveling by bike
over such a long distance," he said.

Even Nurul Arifin, an actress now a legislator and a native of
Cicadas, Bandung, has her own memory of the Alun-alun.

In a biography published in an entertainment tabloid she said
she found her good fortune at the Alun-alun in 1982.

After praying in the Grand Mosque, she came across a pamphlet
promoting a modeling competition.

She took part in the contest and became a model, the first
step on her way to success.

What does the Alun-alun look like today, though?

Piles of builders' rubble, stagnant pools of water and weeds
are a common sight in front of the two-floor parking building,
only 25 percent of which has been completed.

This horrible-looking place seems to be isolated from the din
emanating from the shopping center and the imposing office
complex around it. To its west looms a grand mosque valued at Rp
36 billion.

"The two fountains that set the Alun-alun apart from other
places are gone. It saddens one to see the Alun-alun now as it
poses a big contrast to the imposing stature of the Grand
Mosque," Ronny said.

In fact, a plan has been drawn up to convert the Alun-alun
into a parking lot with a capacity for 600 automobiles and 200
motorcycles with a one-hectare park to be built above it.

The project has not gotten of the ground, however, and Bandung
people can no longer boast about the Alun-alun to their guests.

When UN secretary-general Kofi Annan and the foreign leaders
and their delegations had to pass the Alun-alun on their way to
the building where the jubilee of the Asian-African Conference
was held in April this year, this square, then virtually
resembling a lake, was considered an "embarrassment" by Bandung
officials. It was cleverly hidden behind three-meter-tall boards
and iron sheets bearing giant pictures of the smiling faces of
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Vice President Jusuf Kalla,
West Java Governor Danny Setiawan and Bandung Mayor Dada Rosada.

Nineteenth-century town planning

Historically, the Alun-alun, a park built in the center of the
city where grass grows and thick trees stand round it, was a
landmark of Bandung when this city was first laid out in 1810.
The layout of the city was based on the Javanese cultural
philosophy of Catur Gatra (four aspects), namely a palace, a
mosque, a market and a square.

According to the history of Bandung, it was regent
Wiranatakusumah II (1794 - 1829) -- considered the founder of
Bandung city -- who laid out the area when the capital of Bandung
regency was moved from the flooded area of Karapyak (Dayeuhkolot)
to the side of Cikapundung River, or the present-day Alun-alun.

The regental capital was moved on May 25, 1810, at the
instruction of the Dutch Indies governor General Daendels, who
hoped that the new area would be better for the future
development of Bandung.

The Alun-alun, as a center, was located in the middle while
the official residence of the Bandung mayor (now a position
assumed by Dada Rosada) was located to its south.

The Grand Mosque of Bandung lay to the west of the square and
Pasar Baru market to the south-western side. Besides, Banceuy
Penitentiary was also built to the north of the Alun-alun.

Harastuti, chairperson of the Bandung Heritage Association,
said that all Bandung residents felt the loss of the Alun-alun as
the municipal administration will turn it into a parking lot,
making it no more than the concrete yard of an imposing mosque.

"We have opposed this plan from the very beginning. However,
there is a much stronger political interest to which our love for
history must give way," she said.

When noted Muslim cleric Abdurrahman Wahid was president, the
regional administration tried to give prominence to the Islamic
character of Bandung.

Giving character to the city

In 2000, ulema and regional administration officials invited
Bandung Heritage, the only association concerned with the
conservation of culture in Bandung, for a discussion on the plan
to renovate the Grand Mosque, a building constructed in 1812.

It was then, said Tuti, the name by which Harastuti is more
commonly addressed, that the Alun-alun began to be considered as
just a complement to a mosque, without the slightest
consideration for its place in the history of this city, now
populated by over 2.5 million people.

"We differed in opinion with the ulema but lost the debate.
They wanted only the glory of Islam, while we wanted them not to
forget the city's history and identity," Tuti said.

In fact, Tuti noted, the Alun-alun has a strong philosophical
and historical bond with Bandung residents in particular.

Before the place was "demolished," nearly every year the mayor
or the governor expressed their best wishes for the new year to
the residents who gathered there to celebrate.

Long before prostitution became rampant there, the Alun-alun
was a means of direct communications between the rulers and the
people.

"In the pendopo (veranda) there is a bell, which in the days
of yore was sounded to summon people to gather at the Alun-alun
for an important announcement about policies, disasters and so
forth. During the times of struggle for independence, the Alun-
alun was used as a site where soldiers were assembled," she said.

If the Alun-alun were turned into the yard of the mosque, Tuti
said, the communication gap between the people and their ruler
would become greater. Besides, this wouldl also give the
impression that the Alun-alun was only for the majority Muslim
population.

In fact, the Alun-alun is there to minimize differences as
anybody can go there freely."I'm Muslim but I don't agree to the
idea of making a public space look as if it "belonged" only to a
particular group although this group is the majority," said Tuti,
who teaches architecture at Parahyangan University.

"Well, our hope has remained just a hope. Everyone is
impatient to see the outcome of the conversion, which has been
delayed due to financial constraints," she said."Perhaps a new
history will evolve there, replacing the old one, which older
people like me will not forget easily," Tuti said.

Caption:

In its present condition, Alun-alun Bandung forms a contrast with
the imposing Grand Mosque. The plan to build a parking lot and a
green park in front of the Grand Mosque to replace the Alun-alun
has been delayed for quite some time, making it a slum area full
of weeds, stagnant pools of water and piles of rubble. (Yuli Tri
Suwarni/Bandung)