Mary de Tray bids fond goodnye to RI

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): As an eight-year-old living in Minnesota, Mary de Tray was entranced when she read about komodo dragons; she could not believe a place with such creatures existed.

"I always said that I have to in my lifetime see a komodo dragon."

It was not until a few years after her marriage that she fulfilled her dream. She had the chance to see the rare species in 1994 when she accompanied her husband Dennis de Tray -- assigned as the World Bank country director -- to Jakarta.

"I haven't gone to Komodo Island, but I've seen the komodo dragon here (in Jakarta). I would really like to go to the island but it will have to be nanti (later)," de Tray said.

Thanks to the advise of friends, not long after arriving in Jakarta, she joined the Indonesian Heritage Society.

The Indonesian Heritage Society activities are all based on a mission to teach and learn about Indonesia's culture and heritage.

Among its many activities are helping catalog the National Museum's artifacts, translating archival records at the museum, providing museum tours and teaching English and other languages to museum staff.

There are also evening lectures, school programs and study groups. Volunteers also handle the society's publications, including books, calendars, cards, newsletters and a website.

One of the most popular activities, especially among newcomers, is "explorers", which allows participants to meet weekly in small groups to visit places of historic and cultural interest in Jakarta and surrounding areas.

What did she expect when she first joined up?

"I thought many things. First, my tremendous curiosity about the country... I am really curious about culture, the aspects of art in the country. And I heard lots of positive things about the explorers that actually give you a scene of the city. I find in almost every city that I have lived in that if you actually know the way of the city, a broad overview of it, it will help you enjoy the city, you won't feel lost," said the mother of two.

Friends of de Tray urged her to "join up and become an explorer".

"I signed up and stood in line to make sure that I got one of the explorer spots," de Tray recalled. "I was a convert from the first outing."

"I learned so much and enjoyed it so much that I signed up for the explorers seven more times. Those sessions gave me a knowledge and love of Jakarta which I built on throughout our stay," de Tray said. She was appointed as the society's chairwoman in 1997.

Her love for Indonesia can be seen from her favorite food, gudeg, a special dish from Yogyakarta made of vegetables stewed in coconut milk, which was occasionally made by her staff.

But the place that she loved most while in the country was the Museum Nasional in Central Jakarta, also the location of the society's office.

"Yesterday (Wednesday), I walked through the museum, probably my last walk there, and I thought, I really like it. It has so many things. People say it's old, too Victorian. That's true. But maybe, like people, it's the inside not the outside that counts. That museum has so many pieces in it. Many countries would long to have collections like it has ... I'm happy when I'm there."

De Tray, who officially handed over her position to successor Liz Oley on Thursday, is due to leave the country as her husband has ended his World Bank term.

During her two-year office tenure, de Tray contributed most of her time to the society.

She was active in publishing the Museum Nasional guide book and then The Jakarta Explorer, which was based on participants research while on their visits to many places in and around the city.

"It was a tremendous project I have to admit. I started working on it not too long after I arrived. The result was even better than I hoped. Volunteers worked not only in writing but also with editing and lay out. Even some of their husbands drove around the city to revisit some places because we did not have drivers," she recalled.

She said the book passed through many hands through the years as various members of the rewrite team returned to their home countries.

"I'm very happy it's done," said de Tray of the book, which was first published in 1991.

She regards the book as "a window on Jakarta", guiding readers through the city's sometimes well-hidden treasures.

"Knowing the history of an area, the significance of different buildings and the importance of a particular landmark opens a window of understanding to a country's culture and its people."

"This book will help readers learn how places made history, how people made places and how Jakarta grew, developed and changed," she added.

The former English teacher regarded her five year stay in the city learning about the country's cultural heritage as precious.

"We were lucky to be here. It (the country) is so complex, rich and fascinating. I know every anthropologist wants to work in this country. I can well understand why. It's because of the crafts, the arts, the culture, the food -- which has always been a great interest of mine -- and the travel," de Tray said.

"I always say to my husband ... when a brisk wind really picks up in the ocean, it always makes me think of all the millions of ships that search and search for this place," de Tray recalled.

"I wish I could time travel here," she laughed.

But what she would miss most about leaving the country were the friendships that she made, especially with the museum employees.

"They are nice, decent and interesting people. I enjoy their friendship. I remember the afternoons, having a good laugh together over a common story ... sort of ngomong-ngomong, gossiping," said de Tray, who is leaving the country on Friday.

If she had more time de Tray knows what she would do: spend more time with her friends, the museum, traveling and practicing her Bahasa Indonesia.

One dream though remains constant: "I want to go to Komodo Island."