Real story behind demolition of historical sites is vague

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.