Merdeka Square and a Walk into History

A student from Bogor or Depok could one day simply take the KRL commuter train, get off at Gambir and, within minutes, be standing in front of a diorama depicting the nation’s journey.

Jakarta (ANTARA) — An average of around 18,000 passenger boardings and alightings take place at Gambir Station each day. KAI records show 3.87 million customer movements from January to July 2026.

Across the road, the National Monument (Monas) area received around 2,800 visitors on the first Sunday of Ramadan that year.

Gambir and Monas have stood side by side since the elevated station was inaugurated on 5 June 1992. Even so, the flow of people between them has never really been designed. Passengers get off the train and head elsewhere, while most visitors to Monas arrive by car, park on the southern side and spend time in the gardens or inside the monument grounds.

President Prabowo Subianto’s instructions at Merdeka Palace on Thursday (5 November) seek to bridge that gap.

The President asked PT KAI president director Bobby Rasyidin to accelerate Gambir’s revitalisation as a national station and as a space for tourism and family recreation. The Monas area, meanwhile, is to be reorganised to make it more comfortable and strengthen its historical and educational value.

President Prabowo also entrusted Culture Minister Fadli Zon with the idea of establishing a National Grand Museum in the same area.

Taken together, the three directives would change the order of a visit to the heart of Jakarta: get off the train, walk, then step into history. New buildings are merely the means. The goal is to reshape the way people move through the area.

Bobby uses a simple metaphor: Gambir will be the terrace and Monas the stage. The design plan translates that idea literally. A layered, undulating roof will stretch over the elevated tracks, while a circular grassy plaza facing the monument will resemble an open-air amphitheatre.

KAI says the design draws on Indonesia’s landscapes, from waterfalls and terraced rice fields to mountains. The travel experience is intended to begin before passengers board the train.

The station’s terrace will also need to be larger. Gambir currently has only four tracks and handles 34 scheduled regular long-distance train services a day. Commuter trains pass overhead without stopping, so passengers wanting to visit Monas must get off at Gondangdia or Juanda.