The dead sleep in luxury at Gunung Gadung

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Bogor

The 300-hectare Gunung Gadung cemetery is probably the largest and most elegant land of the dead in the country.

Located beside the luxurious Rancamaya housing complex in Ciawi, Bogor -- some 65 kilometers southeast of Jakarta -- the cemetery looks more like a park thanks to its well-maintained lawns and glittering marble tombs.

Indeed, the cemetery is filled with large and elegant tombs or mausoleums, which reportedly took several years and hundreds of millions of rupiah to construct.

Since the cemetery is mostly used by Chinese-Indonesians, some of the tombs, which belong to the country's wealthiest people, are guarded by private security guards who stay on guard 24 hours a day to make sure that no valuables are stolen.

Whatever their religion, many Chinese still practice the tradition of burying gold, money and jewelry along with the dead.

"The graves here are so big because they put valuables inside aside from the body. These graves would be very expensive for the average Indonesian," said Dayat, a worker with the Pulasara Foundation which manages the cemetery.

Dayat said many of the dead buried in the cemetery were the family members of rich businessmen, including tycoon Sudono Salim.

According to Dayat, Salim spent more than Rp 1 billion to build a mausoleum for his family members buried there, including the purchase of marble tiles from China.

The cemetery management charges up to Rp 15 million for anyone who wishes to bury the dead in a tomb measuring two meters by seven meters. The sum only covers the price of the land and the construction cost of the tomb.

The cost also depends on the location of the grave; the higher the location of grave the more expensive it is.

A plot of land located lower down on the hill is priced at Rp 500,000 per square meter, while plots higher up on the hill may cost more than Rp 2 million per square meter.

The cost excludes a monthly maintenance fee, which can reach between Rp 100,000 and Rp 500,000.

The cemetery, which has been operating since 1819, is managed by several foundations. Aside from Pulasara, the other foundations are Zakaria Foundation, Setia Bakti Baru Foundation, Sri Kasih Foundation and Sri Asih Pratama Foundation.

All of the foundations have apparently made a good profit from the business as they reportedly bought the cemetery land for just Rp 50,000 per square meter back in the 1980s.

Another exclusive cemetery is Giri Tama cemetery for Muslims and Christians, which is located in Parung, Bogor -- some 30 kilometers south of Jakarta.

In this cemetery lies the remains of several of the country's noted figures, including the nation's first police chief Hoegeng, comedian Kasino, former religious minister Munawir Sadzali and former minister of home affairs Soepardjo Rustam.

Former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin has also booked a plot there for his family.

The three-hectare cemetery is managed by the Werda Tama Foundation, which was set up by a group of pensioners from the military and public servants back in 1981.

"People who are buried here have to book at least three months in advance. They can't come here just like that as this is an exclusive cemetery," said Yusuf, an official with the foundation.

According to Yusuf, a grave of 2.5 meters by 3 meters for two people is priced at about Rp 6.5 million with a monthly maintenance fee of Rp 25,000. The price includes the cost of digging the grave, providing an ambulance for bringing the corpse, renting a tent and chairs, getting a burial license, as well as for bathing the corpse.

For beautifying the grave, the family needs to fork out between Rp 2 million and Rp 10 million.

The Giri Tama cemetery employs some 30 people for maintaining some 1,000 graves, which are mostly decorated with marble headstones, flowers and grass.

Yusuf noted that the foundation was not seeking any profit from managing the cemetery as the foundation planned to use all its profits to purchase new land to expand the cemetery.