Take a trip down memory lane at Rawamangun golf course
Take a trip down memory lane at Rawamangun golf course
By Kosasih Derajat
JAKARTA (JP): A local newspaper once published a letter from a
student who said he was almost hit by a flying golf ball. The
student said he had been waiting for a bus in front of his campus
in Rawamangun, East Jakarta.
The experience was frightening, the student wrote, but he
would keep the small, hard ball as a memento of the country's
oldest golf course.
There have been several similar complaints, and all medical
treatments and smashed windshields have been compensated, the
management said.
The Jakarta Golf Club, formerly the Batavia Golf Club, was set
up in 1872 around what is now the National Monument Park.
Eventually it was moved to Rawamangun, and is one of the few near
the heart of the city.
The 125-year-old, 32-hectare course is now flanked by a
campus, a residential and small business area, and an elevated
toll road above Jl. Jend. A. Yani.
It is a pity that all the records are gone -- General Manager
Hary Maskan said that in 1964 the club's secretary, a man called
Olevsky who was working at the U.S. Embassy, scurried home with
all the documents when the 'Go Home Yankee' protests spread
across the city.
No one knows exactly when the golf course was opened. What is
clear is that the name Jakarta Golf Club replaced the Batavia
Golf Club on Aug. 8, 1932.
President Sukarno, who likened the golf course to other
colonial symbolism, never played at Rawamangun.
"Bung Karno visited the golf course just once in the early
1960s when he inaugurated the nearby Cawang-Priok bypass road,"
Hary, who claimed to have been with the club for more than 30
years, said.
Such sentiments have long gone: Statesmen such as the late
vice president Mohammad Hatta, Mohammad Roem, and Gen. A. Yani
are known to tee-off there.
Now, when several military cars are parked outside, passers-by
know there must be dignitaries at play.
President Soeharto is a long-time member, along with Vice
President Try Sutrisno, Minister of Defense Edi Sudradjat, and
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas.
Their golfing partners include Mohammad Bob Hasan, Eka Tjipta
Widjaja, Sukamdani Gitosardjono and Ciputra.
Visiting dignitaries included the Philippine's late president
Marcos, South Korea's ex-president Roh Tae-Woo and Singapore's
ex-Premier Lee Kuan Yew. It was at Rawamangun that the President
beat United State's "Rambo," Sylvester Stallone.
The current host, Club Chairman Admiral (ret.) Soedomo, is the
longest serving chairman in the club's long history. He has
served since 1971. Most serve for three years. The first
Indonesian at the helm, after 31 westerners, was E. Martadinata,
followed by former Pertamina director Ibnu Sutowo, Brig. Gen.
Subroto Kusmardjo, and the late Air Marshal Rusmin Nuryadin.
The club has hosted several international and regional golf
tournaments.
But at least one senior golfer is worried that the golf course
will disappear into a business superblock like some other
historic sites.
He forgets this historical piece is lucrative compared to
others -- the club currently has 4,573 members, mostly
Indonesians, with the latest fees reaching Rp 22 million
(US$9,200).
More want to be members, but unfortunately no new members are
admitted unless someone gives up their membership.
But the club, Hary said, was not profit oriented.
"The club gets only Rp 55,000 in monthly fees from each of the
2,400 ordinary members and Rp 11,000 per month from 2,000 other
members," said Hary.
"Some 124 honorary members who are more than 70 years old and
have been in the club for 20 years are exempt from monthly fees,"
he said.
With 350 caddies and 200 other employees, Hary said the income
was just enough to let the club survive.