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.