Menteng long the swanky part of town

By Ida Indawati Khouw

Well-planned Menteng was the desired place to live for Dutch colonists and a few fortunate Indonesians during the early 1900s. While urban sprawl has taken over present day Jakarta, a Menteng address is still a reason for pride. This is the 79th article in our series on life in old Batavia.

JAKARTA (JP): Businesswoman Shanti L. Poesposoetjipto, 53, counts herself lucky as someone who grew up in Menteng.

Its beautiful suburbs featuring spacious homes and gardens designed by Dutch architects in the early 1900s were the ideal playground for the young.

Shanti regrets that times have changed for today's kids.

"I don't think that Jakarta's children now have the privilege I had, of playing in open spaces next to our houses without the threat of heavy traffic or air pollution."

In the 1950s and 1960s, local children made the area's streets into their own private roller-skating rink.

"The skaters were divided into gangs, such as children of Jl. Subang, Jl. Imam Bonjol, Jl. Gresik and others, and all of us then met at a certain point, usually Jl. Cokroaminoto," she said.

She recalled that Taman Suropati, one of many parks in the plush area, was the site where the Association of Djakarta Students (Imada) held regular roller-skating competitions.

Tropical gardens dotted with large trees were everywhere, in keeping with the Dutch design of a "garden city". In their center were the distinctive Menteng-style houses, specially designed for the tropics, with high ceilings, big windows and good ventilation.

"We usually hid in one of the gardens of a house when we played hide and seek and searched for our friends by bike. So, our playground was huge, as also the houses were without fences."

Menteng -- a district bordered by Jl. MH Thamrin in the west, Jl. Wahid Hasyim in the north, Jl. Cikini in the east and Jl. Latuharhari in the south -- is today still known as a favorite residential area for public figures.

But during the Dutch era, there were very few Indonesians like Shanti's father, shipping magnate Soedarpo Sastrosatomo, who could afford to live in the area.

The heaven for the Dutch turned into a hell when the Japanese arrived at the height of World War Two in 1942, with the latter forcing them out of their comfortable homes and into the squalor of internment camps.

One who experienced the era was designer Iwan Tirta, 66, whose family moved to Mampangweg (now Jl. Teuku Cik Ditiro) in late 1942.

He said the area had become a ghost town. "Houses were just left empty, so one of my games was playing around the empty houses," he said.

Some houses were appropriated by the Japanese, and the empty houses were then taken care of by the city housing agency where Indonesians could obtain the popularly known VB (Vestigings Bewijs, the living permit) to reside in them.

According to Iwan, there were only two Indonesians living near his house, the family of Soepomo, one of the country's founding fathers, who lived on Javaweg (now Jl. Cokroaminoto) and Dr. Kan, a rich physician who lived on Heutszboulevard (now Jl. Teuku Umar).

The Dutch were scattered to several internment camps in the country, including one in Menteng straddling Jl. Lembang, Jl. Lembang Terusan and Jl. Cirebon, and also around Jl. Teuku Cik Ditiro and Jl. Madiun.

Harsh

They experienced harsh treatment, lack of medical care and poor food, Iwan remembered. "The camps were encircled by plaited- bamboo fences with barbed wire," he said.

Iwan recalled that former servants of the Dutch sometimes tried to pass food to them through the fences.

Some of the Dutch entrusted their valuables to their Indonesian friends. "Our family, for example, was entrusted with a grand piano that was taken back when the Dutch friends returned to their country," Iwan said.

To save their houses from being taken by the Japanese, some of the Dutch offered their homes to Indonesian friends, which was the experience of the family of the late Sjarifah Nawawi, mother of businesswoman Mien Soedarpo, 77.

"We were offered the house of noted Dutch figure de Riemer on Jl. Pegangsaan Barat by his widow. After some negotiations with the Japanese, we then occupied the main building while the de Riemer family was in the pavilion next door," Mien said, adding that the Dutch family name was taken as street name de Riemer Laan (now Jl. Tanah Abang III in Central Jakarta).

Unlike many other old Menteng houses which have been renovated over the years, the Indische Woonhuizen (Indies Residences) style house of the Nawawis is still preserved by the owner.

But Menteng was transformed when new houses were built lacking architectural merit and not harmonious with the environment; there was also the hustle and bustle of traffic.

Jakarta historian Adolf Heuken said that about 50 percent of Menteng houses were "damaged" as the result of various "dirty" deeds by Jakarta administration officials, like breaches of the 1975 gubernatorial decree designating Menteng an area for preservation.

The origin of the area's name is still unclear. Jakarta: A History author Susan Abeyasekere believes Menteng was derived from the estate first owner van Muntinghe, a prominent colonial official in the early 19th century.

But Heuken disagreed, saying that the name was recorded from the 18th century. He surmised that it derived from spruitje Menting, meaning small river Menting that began from the back part of the present Kuningan soccer field.

"The small river flowed through the western part of Menteng area," Heuken said, adding that another version said that it derived from the Menteng fruit (baccaurea racenosa) which were cultivated in the area because of their natural abundance.

It was common during the time of the Dutch East Indies Company (which was dissolved in 1799 due to bankruptcy) that people could obtain an estate by making a large purchase.

Menteng was started as a housing complex for the haves in 1908 when the estate was purchased by real estate company De Bouwploeg, whose office was at the site currently occupied by the Cut Mutiah mosque.

Menteng and nearby Gondangdia were chosen because the area was located immediately adjacent to Weltevreden (the present Gambir area), which had become the new city of Batavia after the old one in Kota was razed in 1808 due to its unhealthy environment.

Several plans were made for Menteng. The first was by P.A.J. Moojen (1879-1955), who designed the road network for the tuinstad (the garden city).

Moojen's planning, which was centered on a large field previously located at the intersection of Jl. Cokroaminoto, Jl. Sutan Syahrir and Jl Moh. Yamin today, was unduly complex.

A new plan was made by F.J. Kubatz, assisted by J.F. van Hoytema, F.J.L. Ghijsels and H. von Essen.

But Menteng's development meant that indigenous people were forced off their land without compensation. The policy of evicting the native people in order to open new residential areas for Europeans was denounced by Sarekat Islam (Union of Islam), the first great nationalist party, founded on the issues of Islam and trade.

It was only with the Dutch departure in the 1950s that the residential area became truly Indonesian again.