Once pristine beach ravaged by development

Once pristine beach ravaged by development

JAKARTA (JP): Early in the 1970s, many local families spent
their weekend at Cilincing beach in North Jakarta. These days, it
is a slum, and nothing more than a place to dump garbage.

Cilincing was once a popular leisure destination in the city,
with its beautiful beach and fishponds luring families to lounge
and fish for hours on end.

With its endless rows of coconut trees, Cilincing was then
known for kopyor (a coconut drink), which featured a softer,
tastier coconut meat mixed in with the juice.

The panoramic beach, pond and the kopyor drink have all
disappeared now. Instead, there are only traditional fishing
boats berthed on black water off the beach, which is piled high
with garbage and sand.

"The present Cilincing does not have the pride it used to. Its
past beauty is now a memory," a local, Yusuf Amin, 60, told The
Jakarta Post from his home near the Cilincing-Cakung Drain river.

Yusuf, the former chief of Cilincing and Kalibaru districts,
said the beach had been popular among Jakarta families from the
colonial times until the late 1970s.

He said up until the early 1970s, visitors could enjoy
wonderful coral reefs and biota in clean water, while enjoying a
cool kopyor.

The beach was also surrounded by countless fishponds spread
over several hectares. They were owned by two Chinese locals, Oei
Book Hiem and Oei Pek Sanwho, who did not speak Chinese.

He added that Cilincing used to have a Tuesday market, but it
disappeared due to competition from modern stores nearby.

Yusuf said the beach's popularity began to fade in the late
1970s when the city administration, with support from private
investors, opened Jaya Ancol Dreamland at nearby Ancol beach,
also in North Jakarta.

Cilincing beach suffered more problems when the sand was
removed for building material to meet the increasing demand for
land by the city's developers.

"As a result of taking the sand, there was no more beach left.
And the waves also gradually eroded the land along the beach," he
added.

Many fishing boats arriving at the beach after catching fish
in the Java sea dumped their waste there. In addition, poor
people living along the beach also dumped garbage along the
beach.

"They were all poor people who could never take care of the
environment," Jusuf said, adding that Cilincing fishermen earned
an average of Rp 500,000 (US$45.50) a month.

According to the head of Cilincing subdistrict, Mudiono
Tugiman, the area along the beach, which used to be a vast open
area with fishponds, turned into a residential slum following an
influx of migrant fishermen from all over the country.

Mudiono said the increasing number of migrants also affected
the beauty of three rivers which flow to the beach, namely the
Cakung Drain, Banglio and Old Cakung rivers.

There was no longer any greenery along the riverbanks. Instead
fishermen took over by residing in the area. More people moved to
live along the banks of the three rivers following the city
administration's decision to ban fishing in nearby Kresek river.

Because of an increase in daily activity along the riverbanks,
the rivers became shallow and the water turned black.

"The rivers which used to flow into the fishponds are too
polluted. So it is impossible for milk fish to survive in the
dirty water. The area with so many fishponds has gradually turned
into housing complexes or factories," Mudiono said.

With all these problems, Mudiono said, it would be impossible
to restore Cilincing's past glory as a place to relax for
Jakarta's families, unless a miracle happened. But both Budiono
and Yusuf do not believe miracles can turn Cilincing into the
city's recreational beachfront. (01)