Shopping down the ages in Surabaya

Shopping down the ages in Surabaya

Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

We arrived in a horsecart, coachman and horse

Martabak, putu, mutton and chicken satay

It was joyous walking at night

The moon was bright in the rainy season

My wife bought herself a new brassiere

That was how Dutch poet Theodore Donsellar, who was born in
Surabaya in 1945, portrayed Blauran market in a poem published in
De Indo Belanda magazine.

Novelist Suparto Broto, whose books often deal with the
history of Surabaya, said markets used to be not just places for
buying and selling goods, but also places to find a husband or
wife. Markets were a meeting place for all levels of society, be
they Javanese nobility, commoners or members of the Dutch elite.
Almost everyone enjoyed traditional Surabaya fare such as
klanting and es puter (ice cream).

The markets were crowded with people ahead of Islamic
holidays. Single men would use the opportunity to meet members of
the opposite sex, because it was not common in those days for
women to be outside of the house. It was said that men used the
markets as a chance to brush up against women.

"Many of them eventually got married following their first
encounter at the pasar senggol (a market where people often
brushed up against each other)," said Suparto.

Unfortunately, Suparto said, this sort of market atmosphere no
longer existed. Traditional markets in Surabaya have changed.
Some have been turned into large buildings while others have been
left in a state of neglect.

Suparto cannot hide his disappointment over the Surabaya
municipality's decision to demolish the Wonokromo market to make
way for a new shopping mall, the Darmo Trade Center. The market
was in the 1950s considered the grandest in all of Southeast
Asia.

"I was further disappointed when they changed its name. It
used to be a Surabaya landmark," he told the Post.

The Wonokromo market, which suffered a huge fire in 1992, was
demolished in 2003 to make way for the new modern shopping
center.

The author of Soerabaja Tempo Doeloe (Historic Surabaya),
Dukut Imam Widodo, regrets whenever the government changes the
names of old places, such as it did with Wonokromo.

In his book En Werd Een Stad Goberen (A City is Born), GH von
Faber wrote that the Wonokromo market area was the first
residential area in Surabaya in the 19th century.

He said the first residential area was named Pulau Domas and
was located near what is now Surabaya's Joyoboyo bus terminal,
not far from Wonokromo market.

Another historic market in Surabaya is Kaputran market, which
during the time of the Hindu Mataram kingdom in the ninth century
was the home of descendants of Surabayan royalty.

One of the old markets that no longer exists is Winkel Galerij
Passar Baroe, also known as the black market, located on Jl.
Passer Besar, now called Jl. Pahlawan.

Those that are still present are the Kaputran, Tembok, Kupang,
Nyamplungan, Pabean, Rungkut, Turi, Bong (now Slompretan) and
Atom markets.

Dukut Imam Widodo wrote in his book that some of the
merchandise sold in the markets were bicycles (Wanderer, Simplex,
Fongers, Ariel en Coventry and Eagle brands), fabrics, blankets,
sarongs, udeng (head scarves) and underwear.

A woman from Mojokerto who is in the catering industry, Endang
Sriutami, said that despite the presence of numerous modern
shopping centers in Surabaya, she preferred to buy her supplies
at Kaputran market because things cost less than in supermarkets.

"But my children do not want to come with me because they
prefer to do their shopping in supermarkets, which are cleaner,"
she said.