New law to brush up on care of historic buildings
New law to brush up on care of historic buildings
JAKARTA (JP): The City Council is expected to endorse a draft
bylaw next Thursday on the preservation of historic buildings and
their surrounding areas in the capital, a councilor said on
Friday.
It would be the city's first law on the protection of its
historic buildings.
A member of the council's Commission E for social welfare
affairs, Nitra Arsyad, said the draft bylaw was prompted by
public concern for the growing number of national heritage
buildings being destroyed.
For years, the protection and preservation of historic
buildings was regulated by a gubernatorial decree, which has less
legal power than a law, he said.
"Up to now, there has been no proper legal protection for
historic buildings. For instance, there is no adequate punishment
for those who destroy our heritage," he told The Jakarta Post.
Nitra said if the council allowed this to persist, "Jakarta
would become a city without history, because the demolition of
the buildings continues day by day."
The draft bylaw, which consists of 33 articles, stipulates
that the preservation of historic buildings is the obligation of
the city administration and parties which own, run or manage the
buildings.
According to the draft bylaw, historic buildings are
considered as those buildings which are at least 50 years old and
are considered to have historical, cultural and scientific value.
Natural objects which are considered to have historical,
cultural and scientific value are also covered by the bylaw.
However, the draft only carries a maximum penalty of six
months in jail or a Rp 5 million (US$725) fine for those who
violate the bylaw.
Encouraging
The head of archeology at the city's museum and restoration
agency, Candrian Attahiyat, hailed the proposed bylaw, saying it
would promote the legal protection of historic buildings in the
capital.
"The draft bylaw will also encourage people who own the
buildings to protect the properties, because it stipulates the
administration should reward these people by expediting the
procedures to obtain licenses ... for construction at other
sites," he told the Post on Thursday.
He said in the past, the city administration had not given
adequate attention to historic buildings due to the absence of
proper regulations and a lack of funds.
"There is indeed a law on historic buildings, but we don't
have proper regulations for the regional (city) level," he said.
Candrian said his agency was inventorying all of the historic
buildings in the capital, which according to a 1993 gubernatorial
decree numbered 132.
Based on the agency's latest survey, scores of the buildings
are in critical condition, he said.
"But the administration has done nothing to save the
buildings," Candrian said.
During a visit on Thursday to the Kemayoran airport tower in
Central Jakarta, which is listed as a historic building, the Post
learned that the national asset had been completely neglected.
The tower, which was witness to much of the country's early
history, is now dilapidated and surrounded by an unkempt lawn.
A number of the capital's historic buildings which are used as
government offices have been renovated haphazardly, including
combining old European-style buildings with Javanese architecture
and furniture.
It is also difficult to collect reliable and adequate
information on the buildings, which are authentic sources of Old
Jakarta's history.
One of the few reference books on the capital's history, Oud
Batavia, which is written in Dutch, can be found in the National
Library in Central Jakarta.
But the reference books, categorized by the library as rare
publications, are not well preserved.
The paper of a number of the books has begun to decay and some
of the books' pages have been torn out.
According to Nitra, the council has long been aware of the
plight of the city's historic buildings, but the case which
triggered the council to introduce the bylaw was the plan to
remove a historic building on Jl. Cilacap in Central Jakarta.
The building was to be moved to an elite housing complex by a
developer run by noted businessman James T. Riyadi, he said.
Nitra also said the council did not want to see the past
repeated, when a number of historic buildings were demolished.
He cited the demolition of a house which belonged to founding
president Sukarno on Jl. Proklamasi in Central Jakarta.
The demolition of the building, which was the sight of many
historic meetings, including the declaration of the country's
independence on Aug. 17, 1945, was ordered by the late Sukarno
himself, Nitra said. (ind)