Ex-curse-ion to Old Jakarta

All that we can gather about Jakarta is that the city is well-known for its cosmopolitan socielites, urban lifestyle, and hedonistic shrines. Little do we know that it also holds some of the most historical sites that Indonesian citizens ought to acknowledge.

Together with my colleagues, I came to visit those places. I had to force my brain to recall some of the facts about Jakarta that I learnt during my school years. To be honest, I’m not very good in history, let alone Dutch civilisation in Indonesia. But I’ll try to reveal some of the interesting findings.

Jayakarta Museum

Jayakarta Museum (aka Fatahillah Museum)

This old City Hall of Batavia occupies the site of its two predecessors. The current building of fine Dutch architecture was completed in 1710 and once served many civic and judiciary functions. Beneath the front portico lie some cells which were used as dungeons. The museum took over the premises in 1974 and offers a fine glimpse into the city’s colonial past. Thirty-seven ornate rooms display Dutch furniture, old maps, antiquities and Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) memorabilia, recreating the atmosphere prevalent during the Dutch era. In the rear courtyard stand two ondel-ondel statues.

A cannon, with an obscene part on its edge

They call it “Meriam Si Jagur”, namesake of an Indonesian masculine character. When I say ‘masculine’, I mean it somewhat in a figurative sense. What I found on the edge of the cannon was something that 5th grader students are not supposed to see: a fingers position associated with honey-let’s-get-laid-tonight (only that it was an Indonesian way of expressing the word).

History has it that the cannon was manufactured in Macao by MT Bocarro, to be used in warfare. On its back was written a line “Ex me ipsa renata sum”, means “From myself I was reborn”.

Prisoned in the Maritime Museum

Like an old song “Nenek Moyangku Orang Pelaut”, the Maritime Museum in North Jakarta was the place where you can find the glory-on-the-sea from Indonesian past. Here you can see old ships from traditional to VOC age. Next to the museum there was also a tower from which you can see the surrounding area of the harbour.

Torn between two lovers, hehehe

^-^

Can’t wait for another ex-curse-ion….

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