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.