UI, city plan to build Betawi cultural reserve

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration and the University of Indonesia have agreed to develop a 150-hectare Betawi Cultural Reserve in the Srengseng Sawah area of South Jakarta.

City spokesman Muhayat told reporters that the deal was reached on Wednesday after a team of lecturers from the Technology Institute of the university's engineering school disclosed plans for the idea to city officials, including Governor Sutiyoso.

According to Muhayat, the project, aimed at preserving the culture/habitat of the Betawians -- a people indigenous to Jakarta, would need a total investment of Rp 308 billion (US$41.4 million).

The capital is expected to be jointly contributed by the city administration, local people and investors.

Muhayat said that the project -- which would also focus on how to lure tourists to the proposed site -- would soon be offered to investors interested in the venture.

The area, which is currently home to some 34,000 people -- half of whom are Betawians -- would be turned into an attractive tourist site by refurbishing existing lakes, tropical fruits/plants and by developing theaters and museums representing Betawi culture.

"It has been the obsession of the city administration to build a cultural reserve for the Betawians," said Muhayat.

Spokesman for the team of lecturers, Ismeth Abidin, stated that Srengseng Sawah has been chosen for the project due to the large population of ethnic Betawians living near and around the area.

Srengseng Sawah is located in the western part of the University of Indonesia's campus in Depok. It is also home to a water preservation site and also has several lakes that include Situ Babakan and Situ Mangga Bolong.

"That's why the focus of the project will be on water-based tourism," Ismeth said.

According to him, the planned site is also home to many farms that cultivate tropical fruits such as kecapi (sour fruit) and duku (lanseh fruit), along with various vegetables and flowers.

"They used to export their products in the 1950's," Ismeth added.

Ambitious

The ambitious plans of the city administration reminds many people of a similar plan made in 1997 by the administration regarding the rehabilitation of the Condet area in East Jakarta, about 10 kilometers from the Srengseng Sawah.

According to the plan, residents in the area were to build and renovate their houses using classic Betawian architecture.

But the reservation plan was abandoned by the authorities, and the locals subsequently constructed their houses according to their own individual tastes.

Head of the East Jakarta Tourism Agency, Yusri Rozak, told reporters on Wednesday that the main problem in carrying out the plan was the lack of a budget and the poor social conditions of the Condet people.

"We actually needed (funding) for the land clearance in order to unite several neighborhoods in Condet which still strongly hold Betawi culture," he said.

But the city no longer had adequate funds for the project, which had been originally introduced in 1975.

"The idea behind the plan was to establish a Betawi community together with an agro-tourism site and to do this by offering a wide range of local fruits, such as duku and salak Condet," Yusri said.

Now, he added, the Conet area has become home to many new people, including non-Betawian businessmen who have bought the land and properties of the locals and settled there.

"The local residents learned that it was more profitable for them to sell their land and buildings to the newcomers rather than offer them to the city's project, which remains unclear," Yusri explained. (09/06)