Tour carries a blast from the past

Tour carries a blast from the past

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It was a Sunday morning, not even past 8 a.m. Rain poured down
the night before making the morning chilly. Clouds hovered,
leaving a mist. Most people would prefer to stay longer in bed.

But activity had started in front of the Jakarta Historical
Museum in West Jakarta, better known as Fatahillah Museum. Some
200 people, including some foreigners, were gathering in the
museum's yard.

They made a long queue in front of a small reception desk.
Those who had registered were mingling, taking pictures and
preparing to visit Pekojan village, an old kampong where Arab
people used to reside near Pasar Pagi in West Jakarta.

Most of them were actually new to each other. But everybody
there shared the same interest: enjoying the old sites of
Jakarta.

The Historical Museum of Jakarta has been organizing a monthly
activity, named Wisata Kampung Tua (tour of the old villages). It
was first established in June 2002, with 60 participants at the
time. In February there were about 270 people who joined the
tour.

"We are very happy to see people's response, they are very
enthusiastic. And most are young people. Somehow it shows young
people's awareness of our heritage," Rafael Nadadap from the
education division of the museum, told The Jakarta Post.

He said that the museum was trying to offer a different
concept. "If the conventional concept of a museum is to relocate
historical items into one building, now we try to bring people to
the original locations of the heritage sites."

For Rp 10,000, people can get a copy of the summary of the
today's tour, a snack and moderate lunch -- and the tour itself,
of course. Experienced guides are available to accompany the
visitors during the tour. English speaking guides were even also
available.

According to Rafael, so far the museum still subsidizes the
activity to the amount of Rp 1 million (US$110) to Rp 2 million
per month.

"But as long as we can get more people to give attention to
our heritage, we do not mind allocating a special budget for the
tour," he said.

This Sunday (April 20), another Wisata Kampung Tua will be
held. This month the tour will visit the Molenvliet area, where
the Chinese Embassy was and the Candranaya building is still
located.

This month's tour will be more special because it will also
commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Jakarta Historical
Museum, which actually fell on March 30.

Well-known Jakarta historian Alwi Shahab will lead the tour,
according to Tinia Budiati, the museum director.

"The tour will include Glodok, the field formerly occupied by
the Chinese Embassy, the Candranaya building -- an old Chinese
house, which will be incorporated into a future hotel and
apartment complex -- and the National Archives building," she
said.

Meanwhile, a group of traditional musicians will perform
keroncong tugu at the museum. Keroncong tugu a traditional type
of music played to a slow beat, first introduced by the
Portuguese prisoners arrested by the Dutch colonialists in the
17th century.

In the midst of rapid growth of a big city like Jakarta,
historical sites have been mostly forgotten. For many reasons,
people now prefer with new, fancy and modern buildings.

In fact, the government also gives little attention to such
old, historical buildings.

But somehow, activities like Wisata Kampung Tua bring the hope
that such Indonesian heritage sites will gain more serious
attention.