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.