Personal reminiscences of a Jakarta long gone

Personal reminiscences of a Jakarta long gone

Iwan Tirta has been a witness to the changing fortunes of
Jakarta. Save for periods of study at Yale University in the U.S.
and a stint at the United Nations in New York, the 68-year-old
batik designer has lived his entire life in the city. Below are
his personal observations of the most important streets in
Jakarta.

After moving here from Madiun in East Java, our family settled
at Jl Mampang No. 72, now called Jl. Cik Ditiro. Mampangweg, as
it was known in those days, was a quiet, leafy street, bordered
with old tamarind trees.

It stretched all the way from the flood canal on Jl.
Latuharhary to what is now known as Jl. Gondangdia Lama.

The streets running parallel to Mampangweg, such as Jl. Tegal,
Jl. Cirebon and Jl. Lembang, were closed off during the Japanese
occupation due to the fact that the houses on them were used as
internment camps for Dutch women and children. Tall bamboo fences
and barbed wire marked the enclosures.

As I walked to my school on Jl. Cikini, I would hear screams
of women being beaten, probably because they did not bow low
enough to their wardens. I can still remember the horror of them
to this day.

My earliest memories of the city -- it was already called
Jakarta under the Japanese occupation -- are about magnificent
Jl. Matraman Raya. It was one of the widest streets, and my
grandparents lived on a side street called Jl. Paseban.

In my young eyes, Matraman Raya was a grand street. It
stretched all the way from what is now Jatinegara -- formerly
known as Meester Cornelis -- through Kramat to end right in front
of the Schouwburg, now the Gedung Kesenian.

In the center of Matraman Raya was a double track for the
electric streetcars. Along Matraman were stately homes of the
rich, but these were later converted into all kinds of offices.

St. Carolus Hospital is still situated along this broad street
and so is the National Library, formerly the elite high school
for the Dutch called the HBS (Hoogere Burger School) KW III,
short for King William the Third.

There was also the central streetcar depot, and the main
military barracks, which is now Lapangan Banteng in front of the
Borobudur Hotel.

The most elegant and impressive streets in the residential
area of Menteng were the three boulevards. They were called
Oranye Boulevaard, now known as Jl. Diponegoro, Nassau
Boulevaard, now Jl. Imam Bonjol, and Van Heutsz Boulevaard, now
known as Jl. Teuku Umar.

The large houses on all three boulevards were occupied by the
likes of president directors of Dutch shipping companies and
American oil companies. The former house of the Stanvac president
at the corner of Jl. Madiun and Jl. Diponegoro is currently the
residence of Indonesia's Vice President.

The residence of the Dutch ambassador was formerly the home of
the governor of Bank Indonesia (Javasche Bank).

On the corner of Jl. Cik Ditiro and Jl. Diponeggoro stood the
former home of the president director of the Dutch shipping line
"Maatschappy Nederland", which has since become the residence of
the ambassador of Egypt.

Nassau Boulevard, which is nowadays known as Jl. Imam Bonjol,
was equally prominent. Starting at the Burgemeester Bischopplein,
now Taman Suropati, it stretches all the way to the Imam
Bonjol/Thamrin fountain or the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle.

The houses on Van Heutsz Boulevard were bigger and older in
style than those on its two sister boulevards. The trees lining
it were also more impressive. Even today, the boulevards retain
their prestigious reputation.

My family later moved from Jl. Cik Ditiro to Jl. Mendut, the
British enclave surrounding the cricket club at Boxlaan or Jl.
Borobudur, and then to Jl. Imam Bonjol No. 80, which is presently
the site of Deutsche Bank. Our house was the very last one on
Nassau Boulevard, and in front of us was a swampy area. We
watched the construction of Jl. Thamrin, Hotel Indonesia, the
German Embassy and later in 1974, the Mandarin Hotel.

Pasar Baru occupies a special place in my childhood memories,
with all its eating places and shops selling different kinds of
beautiful textiles.

I went to Pasar Baru just to window shop or accompany my
parents to eat at one of the fancy restaurants. I vividly
remember Hoenkwee Huis, a restaurant specializing in cakes and
ice cream. Then there was Toko De Zon, or as we called it,
matahari (sun), the first department store in pre-war Jakarta.

There was a special section devoted to children, a kind of
playground to enjoy while parents would go shopping.

Just walking around was great fun, and I am glad that an
attempt is being made to recreate the spirit and atmosphere of
the old Passer Baroe.

Cikini Straat, today called Jl. Cikini Raya, was special to me
for a couple of reasons. First, my school was located there, and
second it was home to the Raden Saleh Zoo. One of the first
concert halls in Jakarta was at the zoo, and next door was the
Cikini swimming pool.

My junior high school, SMP 1, is still standing. Cikini was
not a commercial street at the time. Instead, there were many
grand houses along it, but that has all changed over the years.
The last remaining grand house is the residence of the Hasyim
Ning family at Cikini Raya No. 24.

Important in the history of the city is Jl. Proklamasi,
formerly called Pegangsaan Timur (Pegangsaan Oost). It was on
this street that the flag of the Republic of Indonesia was
hoisted for the first time. In attendance were Bung Karno
(Sukarno) and Bung (Mohammad) Hatta.

The house itself was not large, but its gardens were. As a boy
of six years, I found it a welcome playground along with the
other children in the neighborhood.

We watched the flag hoisting while sitting on the branches of
a tree in the front garden. It is a great pity that former
president Sukarno chose to demolish this historical house and
build the Gedung Pola that stands there today.

I am constantly amazed at the development of the Mangga Dua
area. Watching it today, it seems like a whole new city is being
built from the ground up. What formerly was a sleepy, swampy area
bordering the industrial downtown has now become a lively
shopping area that can compete with Singapore.

Another almost unrecognizable area is the old airport
of Kemayoran, now the site of the Jakarta Fair. It was the
meeting point of Jakarta's elite. The restaurant was right next
to the apron, and one could watch friends and relatives board
their planes while sipping refreshments in the open air.

All the activities moved to Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, which
was formerly a military airfield known by the name of Cililitan.

Last but not least, there was a sleepy street known by the
name of Jl. Budi Kemuliaan. In the olden days it was the street
where Jakarta's one and only Armenian church was situated as well
as a maternity hospital. The Canadian Embassy was also located on
that street.

It has since been transformed by the towering Bank Indonesia
complex and the mosque belonging to it, which could almost rival
the Istiqlal Grand Mosque in its grandeur.