Mary de Tray bids fond goodnye to RI

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."