Three Indonesians who are preserving the country's past

Three Indonesians who are preserving the country's past

JAKARTA (JP): The difficulty experienced in obtaining
information relating to the history of various historic sites is
no secret, leaving Indonesians open to criticism for not caring
about their own history.

In order to prove it, just go to almost any historic site and
see the difficulty you will have in encountering an owner or
people living there who have information regarding the site's
history.

Even worse, many historic sites have disappeared and been by
replaced by modern buildings.

Some researchers even have to go as far as, for instance, the
Netherlands to acquire the information they are seeking,
something which would not be necessary if there were more people
like Thomas Ataladjar, R. Hardjo Santoso and Ronald Matthijs
Jonathans.

The three are not historians or archeologists. But the way
they collect and keep historical data is similar to that employed
by such scholars.

Thomas, for instance, spent five years researching the Toko
Merah (Red Shop) on Jl. Kali Besar in West Jakarta.

This employee of the state-owned company PT Dharma Niaga --
the present owner of the old estate -- is just a high school
graduate from Flores in East Nusa Tenggara, but his dedication to
historical research may even surpass that of trained researchers.

"At first, I was frustrated by the fact that no one here, even
tour guides, could explain the history of the Toko Merah when
tourists came to visit," said Thomas, who has been working in
Dharma Niaga for about 25 years.

His frustration increased after he discovered that there was
very little information about the former residence of several
Dutch governor generals to be found in the literature on old
buildings in Jakarta.

Experts believe that the 270-year-old Toko Merah is the last
large residential building from the Batavia era that still stands
in the Kota old town area.

Without any sponsors backing him up, Thomas started his
research in 1988 by, first of all, visiting various resource
centers, such as the Jakarta Historical Museum, Erasmus Huis, the
National Library, and the National Archives. He even visited the
secondhand book market in the Kramat area of Central Jakarta.

He also traveled to several cities in Java to seek out
information. "I usually availed of my job assignments to collect
data," he said. "For me, the happiest moment is when I discover
data."

For instance, he persisted in trying to ascertain the exact
year in which the building was first constructed since almost all
of the literature fails to reveal this fact.

"Thank God I found an old and decayed book in the National
Library. The book said explicitly that it (Toko Merah) was built
in 1730," Thomas said, showing a copy of the book written by
Johan Wolfgang Heydt: Allerneutser Schouplatz von Afrika und Oost
Indien.

He then wrote down all of the data by hand in 1993. Now, he is
waiting for the right time to publish it all in a book. His
manuscript has been examined by the Indonesian Institute of
Sciences.

Bank Indonesia

One old building that still has complete historical records is
the Bank Indonesia (central bank) building in the Kota area, West
Jakarta.

This is thanks to one of the bank's retired employees, R.
Hardjo Santoso, who "saved" the building's precious archives from
being destroyed since they were considered "useless".

"It was a Dutchman, who was conducting research on the
Javasche Bank (the forerunner of Bank Indonesia) between 1981 and
1982, who made me aware of the importance of the archives," said
the former head of the security division.

It was this 70-year-old and the Dutch researcher who selected
and organized 8,500 bundles of old documents which were piled up
in the bank's office in Kota. "We then selected 5,611 bundles
which were categorized as valuable, while the rest were
destroyed," Hardjo said.

He continued his research after retirement.

"I was assigned to manage the archives after my retirement. I
think it was because I understood the Dutch language. Since I
really did not know what to do with the archives, I decided to
categorize them by subject. Then, I made a list of the bank's
directors, profiled the bank's first director and gathered data
on the setting up of the bank's 22 branches across Indonesia."

Some of his work -- such as the chart showing the Javasche
Bank's organizational structure, the list of bank directors and
data on the bank's financial year -- are quoted in the book Bank
Indonesia dalam Kilasan Sejarah Bangsa (Bank Indonesia in a
Glimpse of the Nation's History) by Dawam Rahardjo.

In collecting data during his retirement, he visited all of
the Javasche Bank's branches from Aceh to Manado, North Sulawesi.

"Actually, I was not assigned to make the chart (of the bank's
organizational structure), my task was just to manage the
archives, but I was curious to know more about the bank's
history," said Hardjo, who studied law, economics, and social and
political science at Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta but
never graduated.

Belanda Depok

Another person who has contributed to the city's historical
records is 61-year-old Ronald Matthijs Jonathans, who is the
grandson of Johannes Matthijs Jonathans, the last president
(community leader) of "Belanda Depok" -- the Dutch-Depok people,
a term which is not approved of by the members of the community
as it was used to discredit them as being less patriotic.

The members of this unique community -- which originated from
a group of slaves belonging to Dutch landlord Cornelis Chastelein
in Depok, West Java -- should be grateful to Ronald. Without him
and the information he has collected, they would not be able to
trace their 381 years of history.

"Most of the data came down to me from my grandfather. Maybe
it is because I was the only one of his offspring who had the
curiosity to keep the old archives and who loved all things
related to the history of Depok," he said.

His grandfather kept precious archives, including Chastelein's
testament of 1714 which granted the land to his slaves, as a
result of which the Depok community owns the estate until now.
(ind)