Srengseng to become Islamic Betawi village

Srengseng to become Islamic Betawi village

Damar Harsanto
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The City Council endorsed a draft bylaw converting the Srengseng
Sawah subdistrict in South Jakarta into an Islamic Betawi village
on Thursday despite objections by the Golkar Party and Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) factions.

While not a single article in the bylaw explicitly calls for
the establishment of an Islamic Betawi village, annotations on
several articles clearly show that the councillors were out to
create an exclusively Islamic village.

One appendix to Article 4 (1) of the bylaw designating
Srengseng Sawah as Jakarta's Betawi Village, for example, says
that the ruling was meant "to preserve and nurture awareness of
local residents to embrace a way of life based on Betawi culture,
including a community life deeply rooted in Islamic values,
Betawi attire, works and handicrafts with Betawi characteristics
and maintaining and performing Betawi arts."

An explanation of Article 7 (1) on development planning,
includes a section about the development of public facilities in
the Betawi village, and how they must reflect Betawi culture,
including the importance of mosques and mushollas.

An explanation of Article 9 (1) says that the development of
the Betawi village "should be adapted to Islamic Betawi culture."

Only the Golkar and PDI-P factions opposed the explicit
reference to Islam of the planned Betawi Village, but they were
outnumbered by factions favoring the Islamic designation.

Golkar and PDI-P have a combined 18 seats in the 75-seat
council.

"We do not agree with the development of Betawi culture that
is explicitly associated with Islamic values. This will certainly
betray the history of Betawi culture itself, which is inherently
open-minded and tolerant," Marthin Octavianus Makatita of Golkar
said.

Marthin pointed out the fact that some Betawi people were
Christians, like those in Kampung Sawah, Pondok Gede, while some
others were Hindus, like those in Kranggan Wetan, also in Pondok
Gede.

"We emphasize that the bylaw, which is meant to preserve
Betawi culture should not be followed by forcible action to exert
values in the Betawi culture to every individual or community
living in Srengseng Sawah," he said.

Sumiyati Soekarno of PDI-P said that the wording, "deeply
rooted in religious values in the Betawi village" should be
reworked so as not to be taken to mean that non-Muslims were not
allowed.

The 289-hectare Srengseng Sawah subdistrict is currently
inhabited by approximately 9,500 people from different religious
and ethnic groups.

It was unclear, however, if the bylaw required that non-
Muslims living there would be evicted from the subdistrict.

The Jakarta administration has issued several regulations in
relation to the Betawi culture, but little has been done by the
administration to follow up on those regulations.

Any violations of the new bylaw will mean a maximum sentence
of six months in prison and/or a Rp 50 million (about US$5,400)
fine.

Srengseng Sawah was chosen to become a Betawi village after
the administration failed to develop the vast area of 18,228
hectares in three subdistricts in Condet that were declared to be
preserved cultural areas in 1974 by former Jakarta governor Ali
Sadikin.

"The administration needs to involve local residents in all
stages of planning and development of the area," said Rahmat Syah
of the Prosperous Justice Party faction.

Abdullah Prawiradirdja of the United Development Party faction
said that the management of the area should involve various
parties, including relevant city agencies, the Betawi people's
forum (Bamus Betawi), the Betawi Cultural Institute (LKB),
architects, cultural observers and private companies concerned
with the preservation of Betawi culture.