The urgency of burial ground for Jakarta

The urgency of burial ground for Jakarta

Nirwono Joga, Chairman Indonesian Landscape Architecture Study
Group, Jakarta

At the beginning and the end of Ramadhan, some of the most
frequently visited places here are public cemeteries as it is a
tradition for Muslims to visit the graves of their parents or
relatives. They will even take leave to be able to do this if the
graves are out of town. They also pray at holy graves such as
those of the Wali Songo, the nine Muslim propagators who spread
Islam in Java. The "pilgrimage" to the cemeteries begins days
before the fasting month of Ramadhan arrives, and peaks on the
first and second days of Idul Fitri.

Officially, the mortality level in Jakarta has risen from 80
people a day in 1997 to 100 a day in 2002. Meanwhile, the city's
cemetery service has estimated that by 2005 Jakarta will need
some 785 hectares of land for burial purposes. The 2000-2010
Jakarta Spatial Plan, however, only identifies Jakarta as needing
745.18 hectares of land for this purpose over the decade.

Very clearly, Jakarta will no longer have enough free space
for new graves in only a few years from now.

Just as it manages green spaces, the Jakarta city
administration has never shown any consistency and seriousness in
dealing with the cemetery problem. Ironically, the city council
has issued a bylaw reducing the targets set for green spaces in
Jakarta. In the 1965-1985 Jakarta General Spatial Plan, the
target set for green spaces was 37 percent of the total area of
the city (65,000 ha)

In the General Spatial Plan for the following two decades, the
target was reduced to only 25.82 percent of the city's total
area. Now, the 2000-2010 Jakarta Spatial Plan has again reduced
the percentage to a mere 13.94 percent.

This means there is less land available for public cemeteries
in spite of increasing demand. Open space in Jakarta covers only
9 percent of the city's total area. Meanwhile, land appropriation
for cemetery purposes is always limited by lack of money.

That the Jakarta city administration cares little about the
availability of burial grounds is reflected in the change in use
in 1997 of the cemetery in Blok P, on which the South Jakarta
Municipal offices now stand, and the removal of 1,003 graves from
Menteng Pulo cemetery in 2001.

So when you go to pray at a grave, pray that it will never be
removed.

The lack of seriousness in the management of cemeteries on the
part of the Jakarta city administration has led the developers
and planners of new satellite cities around Jakarta to be
similarly negligent. None of them have allocated land for public
cemeteries.

Meanwhile, the cities that surround Jakarta, like Bogor,
Tangerang, Bekasi and Depok, will prioritize their public
cemeteries for their own residents.

It is high time that the Jakarta city administration handled
this issue with greater seriousness and professionalism. Law No.
5/1992 on cultural conservation and Minister of Home Affairs
Instruction No. 14/1988 on the availability of green spaces in
urban areas, stipulate that the Jakarta administration and its
legislative council must immediately draw up a regional
regulation on landscape conservation to ensure the continued
existence of public cemeteries.

The developers of new satellite cities must be obligated to
provide reasonable amounts of land for public cemeteries based on
predicted mortality levels. A public cemetery must be treated as
a cultural reserve. This means that all activities involving
public cemetery restoration, reconstruction, renovation or
conservation must be preceded by an environmental and social
impact analysis.

Why must a public cemetery be conserved and protected? Studies
on public cemeteries in the U.S. and in Australia prove that the
land and water in public cemeteries contain a higher metal
content compared to other land. It is believed that the metallic
elements come from decomposing bodies.

It is always likely that the bodies of people who died of
certain diseases, such as malignant cancer, would also release
hazardous substances into the soil and water in a public
cemetery. That is why the U.S. and Australian governments have
designated public cemeteries as legally protected conservation
areas, a designation that cannot be changed.

As a result of the lack of land for public cemeteries, the
world's big cities have supported the drive for cremation, hence
the provision of cremation facilities in public cemeteries. Free
cremation services are offered to those who died of AIDS and
malignant cancer, and executed prisoners.

The prevailing motto is efficiency, economy, hygiene and
conservation in cemetery administration. Melbourne and Sydney in
Australia have popularized cremation since the enactment of
Australia's Public Health Act in 1889. In Indonesia, cremation is
nothing new, particularly for certain ethnic groups.

The Jakarta administration must immediately draw up
comprehensive guidelines for the overhaul of public cemeteries
with the active involvement of professionals and academics, local
religious and traditional leaders, and members of the community.

Such guidelines should cover the definition of a graveyard, a
land-efficient burial system, the burial techniques employed,
computerization of administration and fostering of a partnership
pattern.

The management and development of public cemeteries must not
rely only on graveyard charges. These activities must not be
allowed to become a routine case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Neither must they be concerned solely with the burial of the
dead.

Sydney, London, , Mecca, Medina and Singapore and other big
cities have successfully turned graveyards into income-generating
city tourism destinations. Muslims, for example, visit the grave
of the Prophet Muhammad in Medina when they go on the haj. When a
public cemetery is turned into a tourist attraction (economic
value), a historical place where famous people are buried
(educative value), and a conservation park (esthetic and
ecological values), the cemetery will no longer inspire fear.

It will no longer be "spooky" if it is a spacious area of
grass, flat or hilly, with flowers blooming everywhere and trees
regularly planted in rows to mark out the blocks of graves. The
watering and lighting systems should be sophisticated, supported
by well-marked paths. Grave mounds should be avoided as these
only make it difficult to mow the grass.

There must be serious discussion on burial techniques, such as
how many corpses can be buried in one grave. Also, cremation must
be popularized.

Conserving graveyards also means creating a humane city
environment that affords proper respect for the dead.