Real story behind demolition of historical sites is vague

By Ida Indawati Khouw

Old Batavia is no less attractive than metropolitan Jakarta. However, many of the finest buildings have been demolished, neglected, refurbished out of character or are poorly managed. This is the first article in a series about Jakarta's historical buildings to run in Saturday editions of The Jakarta Post. Join us in our travels to over 100 historical buildings built during the colonial era and the early years of the country's independence.

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia could be accused of being a country that has little respect for its own past, as many buildings with much historical significance have been demolished.

Furthermore, detailed backgrounds of the surviving buildings are often very difficult to find. The accessible information is sometimes vague, for -- as many people say -- political reasons.

The demolished building on Jl. Pegangsaan Timur 56 (now Jl. Proklamasi) in Central Jakarta, which was the residence of the late president Sukarno and the site of many important meetings during and after 1945 Independence Day, is one clear example of the poor attention given by the government to such historically significant sites.

The front yard of the Dutch-style house, in which Sukarno lived from when the country was under Japanese rule until 1946, was used by the first president to declare Indonesia's independence on Aug. 17, 1945.

The available information on the house and Sukarno's reasons for tearing down the building is as limited and confusing as the details of his death.

According to several publications, the building was used by Indonesian and Dutch senior officials to draft the famous Linggarjati accord on Indonesia's sovereignty.

The house also witnessed the inauguration ceremony of the country's first Cabinet ministers, according to a book titled History of the Proclamation Memorial Monument on Indonesia's Independence Day published by the (then) city museum and history agency in 1977.

But veteran journalist Rosihan Anwar, who witnessed the Linggarjati accord, said the Pegangsaan 56 building was never used to draft part of the agreement.

"It was drafted in the Linggarjati area (in West Java, where the agreement was made). That Sjahrir discussed the matter in the building might be possible," he told the Post, referring to the former prime minister Sutan Sjahrir, who lived in the house after Sukarno.

Clouded

The only clear thing is that the building's demolition was ordered by Sukarno himself.

The reason for Bung Karno, the popular name for the first president, to demolish the historic building is however still clouded.

Rosihan said: "Nobody knows the reasons. We didn't know what was in Bung Karno's mind at that time".

He disagreed with a version that said the destruction of the house, on Aug. 15, 1960, at that time the residence of Sjahrir, was merely the result of a personal conflict between the prime minister and the president.

Although Sukarno did not like Sjahrir, "Sukarno would not go so far", Rosihan said.

But the former director of the National Museum, Sudarmadji Damais, believed that the version was the "most acceptable" one.

"I agree that nobody knows the exact reason but (the version that says) it's due to the fact that the house was at the time the home of Sjahrir is the most rational one," he said.

Several people believed to have been privy to events at the time, such as Rosihan and novelist and veteran journalist Mochtar Lubis, have refused to share their notes.

"I have closed my book. I don't want to comment further about the era," said Mochtar, who at the time lived on Jl. Bonang, just behind the Jl. Pegangsaan Timur 56 house.

Rosihan also said that he did not want to recount the era any more. "It's useless."

Another version was given by a book published by the city's museum and history agency.

It said the initiative to demolish the house had come from the now outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), which stated that a proclamation memorial monument erected in the front yard of the house in 1946 merely marked the Linggarjati accord, and had nothing to do with the proclamation of independence.

The party therefore proposed that Sukarno demolish the monument.

The president ordered the dismantling of the monument together with the house in August 1960.

But the book does not elucidate further on the reason for PKI's opposition to the Linggarjati agreement.

This version was strongly denied by both Rosihan and Sudarmadji.

Underpants

The late Henk Ngantung, who served as governor of Jakarta between 1964 and 1965, stated in his Karya Jaya memorial book of five city governors in power from 1945 to 1966 that he initially opposed Sukarno's intention to knock down the house.

But when Henk uttered his objection to Sukarno, he was reprimanded by the president.

"Are you part of the people who want to show off my underpants?" Sukarno replied, as quoted by Henk in his book.

However, Bung Karno let the late governor make a two-square- meter scale replica of the building, showing the same materials and colors of the house.

"But I don't know the fate of the miniature replica now," Henk said.

According to the museum's book, the house and the proclamation memorial monument officially became the property of the state on July 1, 1948.

Starting in 1952, the house had become a cultural heritage building, where historic objects were displayed and art performances were held regularly.

Based on a 1993 gubernatorial decree, the building was categorized as historic.

Whatever the arguments, since 1975 several parties have repeatedly called for the reconstruction of the building.

The proclamation memorial monument was reconstructed in 1972.

The former head of the restoration division of the then building order and restoration agency, Wisnu Murti Ardjo, who was involved in the planned reconstruction of the building in 1995, said the New Order government, under former president Soeharto, always disapproved the reconstruction.

"Pak Harto always said that he did not want to annul the decision made by his predecessor."

The proclamation site complex is now an open space used by local residents to relax. Large statues of Sukarno, holding the proclamation text, and former vice president Mohammad Hatta, have been erected.

An unnamed monument topped by a thunderbolt is located on the spot where Sukarno read the proclamation.

Nearby there now exists the six-story "Gedung Pola", which is now recorded as the Perintis Kemerdekaan (Independence Pioneers) building.

Local youths use the vacant site of the former Pegangsaan Timur 56 house to play football, while parents watch their kids from nearby.

When asked to comment on the proposal to rebuild the historic house on the site, housewife Ani opposed it, saying the building would only constrict the space that is her only son's playground.

"It's better like it is today," she said while feeding three- year-old Mohammad Rafli.