Jakarta's Old City

Jakarta's "old city", known also as Kota, clings tightly to its rich neoclassical heritage, and offers both locals and tourists alike an authentic and reminiscent glimpse into the country's unique past.

Stretching from the ancient spice trading harbour of Sunda Kelapa to the pearly buildings of Fatahillah Square, Old Jakarta stands as one of the city's sole reminders of three centuries of Dutch colonialism – and what a stunning reminder it is. Such preservations of the past are a rare find in a city saturated with urban infrastructure, mega-malls, and conurbation conveniences.

Right in the heart of Old Jakarta lies Fatahillah Square, a simple but eye-catching courtyard that showcases the best of the Dutch Empire's architecture and artifacts. The colonisers named the area Batavia, and in its heyday, the square was the commercial and administrative nucleus of the new rulers.

Today, the tiled square is free of traffic, and the tree-lined area is decorated with a smattering of abstract concrete spheres and antique street lights, which makes for an entertaining and relaxing resting spot to people-watch. In the centre of the square is a line-up of official Kota Tua bicycle-taxis (ojeks) ready to peddle customers to their destination.

The area has attracted a sizable presence of young locals who keep the vibe energetic.
"The younger generation, those in their early twenties and teenagers, they appreciate this old town – especially the creative industry people. They always ask me, 'Can we live here?'," says co-founder of Jakarta Old Town Kotaku Ella Ubaidi.

The youth wander in packs throughout the square's nooks and crannies, enjoying the ojek services and posing for a stream of photos for their friends' cameras and cell phones.
At the head of the square is the Jakarta Museum of History, a grand building that boldly displays "Gouverneurs Kantor" (Governor's Office) above its main entrance. The 37-room building, surrounded by Portuguese cannons, was the original Town Hall for Batavia in the 1700s. Today, it displays memorabilia and antiques from several of Jakarta's foreign influences.

The most breathtaking part of the collection is the striking teakwood furniture from the Dutch renaissance period. On the first level there is a handsome oversized table set at which the council deliberated the fate of convicts, as well as a pair of six-metre high filing cabinets that once stored state records. The balcony at the top of the staircase provides the best vantage point to view the square and the chorus of Indonesian flags that are suspended from its buildings.

Also overlooking Fatahillah Square is the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics, which was not only the former office for the Council of Justice but also functioned as military barracks. The stunning columnar-style building is bordered by elegant white pillars and a moat of palm trees. Its gapped-tooth floorboards and spiral staircases create the perfect environment for the museum's extensive collection of porcelain, sculptures, glass paintings and art from around Asia and Europe, many of which date back to ancient times.

The award-winning Batavia Café sits at the base of the square, and is the only business that is open through the evening (minus the smoky billiard room next door). The two-story restaurant/café/bar elegantly meshes Chinese décor, including red lanterns, art, and entertainment, with its regal architecture and antique furniture collection. There is an eye-catching wall behind the stairs that is choc-full of an eclectic collection of black and white photographs – featuring pop-art, political figures, celebrated faces and even fetish-style images. The collection extends through the upstairs bathrooms also, where Audrey Hepburn's sly smile greets you at the door. The upstairs bar is full of shimmering chandeliers, heavy drapes, candle-lit tables, and ceiling-high floral arrangements – a combination rich in romanticism.

Just to the west-side of the café stands Wayang Puppet Musuem – the former site of Batavia's Protestant Church. The museum is filled to the brim with an enormous and eclectic collection of wooden and leather puppets and dolls from all around Indonesia and Southeast Asia. The collection at the Wayang Museum inserts a more traditional and indigenous touch to the Fatahillah Square. I am told that if you visit on a Sunday morning you can witness a live wayang kulit, a shadow performance with leather puppets.

The town of Batavia expanded vigorously in the mid 1600s due to its proximity to Sunda Kelapa harbour, the major port for the booming spice trade at the time. Even to this day, the harbour boasts the world's last functioning sailing fleet. The daily activities of the waterfront action are truly a sight to behold; the scene unfolds as a virtual re-enactment of centuries past. Rust-stained pirate-like boats encircle the port's perimeter, while hundreds of tanned dockers tirelessly transport their goods from boat to land and land to boat on a flimsy plank barely forty centimeters in width. Their backs are draped in layers of thick fabrics to assist in the manual transfer of heavy loads.

A young slight boy who perches on the wharf routinely hands out a single bamboo stick to every one of the stream of workers who enters the Suderhana Jaya boat – they are then counted to calculate the total quantities on board.

The workers quietly dine along the seaport's assembly of warungs that offer rice, noodles, and deep-fried treats from within tents strung with bananas and rambutan.

It is here that I discover that I too, as a blatant western-looking westerner, am also an attraction for the workers at Sunda Kelapa. One truck driver asks me if I will pose for a photo with him for his 'collection'. The driver's wares are another nod to the harbour's history – his truck is transporting crates of Jamu, traditional Indonesian medicines produced from leaves, fruits, flowers and roots.

The nearby Bahari Maritime Museum offers respite from the heat of the dock, and is located in the original storage warehouse built by the Dutch East India Company in 1652 for stocking their commodities. The three-storey warehouse comprises several buildings, each complete with iron-barred windows curtained with fading blue-shutters. The stooping doorframes between the buildings are the result of a gradually rising coast level. The rustic buildings are filled with models of sailing boats, larger-scale vessels, navigational apparatuses, cannons, and stunning photography of the harbour's days gone by. A 30ft long boat from Papua can be found in the rear building. Just south of this is the VOC's Uitkijk post - the port's lookout tower. The site under the tower was where prisoners were jailed at the time.



Old Jakarta town also provides many surprises- just driving around the area you can see flashes of the past – be it the large Dutch Empire's great V.O.C sign on a building side, or the famous Dutch drawbridge over the Kali Besar that was used two centuries ago. These remnants are perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the old city – they indicate its profound ability to stand the test of time despite centuries of inattention and unrelenting tropical weather.

Although the area has infinite historical value, aesthetically, many of the structures of Old Jakarta leave much to be desired, and it is no secret that the area is in dire need of attention. Countless buildings, despite being categorised as heritage sites, are revealing dilapidation that has all too easily been overlooked in the exuberance of Indonesian independence. At Fatahillah Square, just mere metres behind Café Batavia is a poignant example of such disregard – the hollow, windowless building highlights the severity of the area's ruin. This part of Old Jakarta does not make the postcards.

It seems the former hub has been deserted in favour of the postmodern gleam that oozes from new Jakarta – and the cracks are showing through. While its days are by no means numbered, make sure you visit this capsule of Indonesian history while you still can.

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Taman Sari - More than Just a Water Castle

In recent times Indonesian artists have become the darling of Singapore's art galleries and art dealers, as their works not only exude originali ty and vibrancy but are also priced reasonably.

The bust of a dragon at Blumbang Kuras graces the entrance of what resembles a pier leading towards the special bathing pool of the sultan.Yogyakarta! Nearly every corner of the city and its environs contains heritage sites with deep historic value. One of the best known is Taman Sari, in the western part of the Keraton of Yogyakarta. A trip to Yogyakarta is incomplete until you have visited this lovely castle.

Taman Sari was built by Sultan Hamengku Buwono I, also known as Pangeran Mangkubumi, starting in 1683 in the Javanese Saka calendar, or 1757 CE – the same year in which the Keraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat was established. The architecture and reliefs in the Taman Sari complex blend Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, European and Chinese elements.

During the reign of Panembahan Senapati, Taman Sari was known as Umbul Pacethokan, or Pacethokan Spring, and was famous for its strong flow of clear water. Taman Sari covered an area of over 10 hectares with around 58 clusters of structures, including buildings, bathing pools, hanging bridges, water canals, and even artificial lakes with artificial islands and underwater tunnels. Only around 22 of these structures are still recognizable. The garden, which was planted with fruit and vegetables, was in effective use between 1765 and 1812 and originally stretched from the Kedhaton complex on the northwest to the Magangan complex in the southeast; the only remnants of Taman Sari still visible are those in the Kedhaton complex.

To enter Taman Sari, one must now go through the rear entrance, because the road in front is closed off by local residents' homes. At the entry gate are Gedhong Temanten and Gedhong Sekawan, where the royal family used to enjoy food and drink after "chatting" in the baths.

As well as these two buildings, we will also encounter Gedhong Gapura Panggung, a structure with four segments, two on the west and two more on the east. The building used to have four dragon statues; only two are left. Gedhong Gapura Panggung symbolizes the year in which Taman Sari was built, 1684 Saka (around 1758 CE). It also features decorative reliefs, as does Gedhong Gapura Hageng.

"Gedhong Gapura Hageng" was the main gate for the sultans. In those days, Taman Sari faced west and extended to the east. This gate is at the westernmost part of the remaining water palace site. The eastern part of this main gate can still be seen, while its western side is surrounded by dense housing. The gate, which comprises several rooms and two sectors is decorated with reliefs of birds and flowers indicating the year when the construction of Taman Sari was completed, 1691 Saka (around 1765 CE).

To the east of Taman Sari's ancient main gate is an eight-sided courtyard. In the middle of this courtyard there used to stand a two-story tower named "Gedhong Lopak-lopak"; all that is left is a row of giant flower pots and the doors that connected this place with others. The door at the eastern end of this eight-sided courtyard is one of the gateways to Umbul Binangun.

Taman Sari Water Castle.The Umbul Binangun bathing pool was the swimming pool for the Sultan, his wives and concubines, and his daughters. This complex is surrounded by a high wall. Two gates provide access to this place, one on the east and one on the west. In the Umbul Pasiraman complex are three pools, decorated with mushroom-shaped springs. Surrounding the pools are giant flower pots, which can still be seen.

The building on the northmost side was the rest area and changing room for the sultan's daughters, wives and concubines. To the south is another pool named "Umbul Muncar". A path resembling a dock separates this pool from another to its south called "Blumbang Kuras".

To the south of Blumbang Kuras is a building with a tower in the middle. The west wing of this building is the changing room, while the east wing was where the sultan relaxed. It is said that the sultan used the tower in the middle to watch his wives and daughters while they were bathing. In that era, apart from the Sultan, only females were allowed to enter the complex.

From the southeast of the Magangan complex to the northeast of Siti Hinggil Kidul is an artificial lake, in the middle of which is an artificial island called "Pulo Kinupeng". On the island is a tall structure called "Gedhong Gading" which is also referred to as the city tower.

To the northwest of the artificial lake and stretching off to its southeast runs a large canal. This canal has two narrow points, where it is believed there used to be hanging bridges. One of these bridges was over the path connecting the Magangan complex with Kamandhungan Kidul. Remnants of this bridge can still be seen, though the bridge itself is long gone. To the west of the hanging bridge was a pier, which it is said the sultans used as the starting point for their entrance to Taman Sari. It is also said that the Sultans entered Taman Sari by boat.

To the south of the canal was a garden, lying to the west of the Kamandhungan Kidul complex and Siti Hinggil Kidul. This has now become a residential area, the garden is now the kampung (urban village) of Ngadisuryan, and the artificial lake has now become the kampung of Segaran.
In the middle of Segaran is an artificial island, "Pulo Kenongo", planted with kenanga (ylang-ylang) trees. On this island stands a two-story structure called "Gedhong Kenongo". The largest, first part of this structure is quite high. From the highest level, one can observe the Keraton Yogyakarta and its surroundings, even beyond the Baluwarti fortress. It is said that Gedhong Kenongo comprised several rooms with different functions. From afar, the building seems to be floating above the water. It is therefore not surprising that the entire Taman Sari complex is also often called the Water Castle (Istana Air), since in the past, two-thirds of the complex was surrounded by water which could be used by the royal for boating. This structure is now in ruins. To the south of Pulo Kenongo is a row of smaller structures called "Tajug", which are ventilation towers for the underwater tunnel that led to Pulo Kenongo.

Taman Sari

To the south of Pulo Kenongo is yet another artificial island, called "Pulo Cemethi". This two-story structure is also called "Pulo Panembung". Here the sultan came to meditate. Some also call it "Sumur Gumantung", because at the south end is a well that protrudes above the ground surface. To reach it, one had to go through an underwater tunnel. This structure is also now in ruins.

To the west of Pulo Kenongo is a ring-shaped structure called "Sumur Gumuling". This two-story building can only be reached through an underwater tunnel. Sumur Gumuling was traditionally used as a mosque. On the second floor is a nook that was used as the mihrab, from which the imam led the prayers. In the middle of this open structure are five stairs leading to the second floor, symbolizing the five pillars of Islam.

Nowadays, many parts of Taman Sari are densely inhabited kampung, where the families of the keraton's abdi dalem, or loyal supporters live. Taman Sari became a residential area because during the colonial era, it was difficult for the abdi dalem to find any place to live. Their families sought the sultan's protection and permission to live within the keraton fortress, which the Dutch were not allowed to enter.

Even now, in nearly every house in Taman Sari you will find batik tulis producers, who have been making batik for the royal family for generations. Souvenir shops selling batik paintings and cloth at affordable prices are easy to find in these residential parts of Taman Sari. The Taman Sari area is now a zone comprising an archeological site, a community of craftspersons producing batik, paintings, sungging (wayang paintings) and bamboo handicrafts, traditional markets, and people's homes.

Taman Sari Yogyakarta is a relic of the largest and most beautiful royal pleasure park ever built in Indonesia. As well as the massive earthquake that struck Yogyakarta in 1867, the earthquake two years ago caused considerable damage in the area, particularly to Pulo Panembung (the meditation spot), Sumur Gumantung, and Pulo Cemethi. The site is also under threat of encroachment for expansion of housing, which will accelerate the damage to the site if nothing is done to prevent it.

As one of Yogyakarta's cultural icons, Taman Sari was designated in 2004 by the New York-based World Monument Fund (WMF) as one of the 100 most threatened historic sites; it urgently needs to be preserved.

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Grand Hyatt Hotel in Central Jakarta

Grand Hyatt Jakarta hotel is a five-star deluxe hotel located in Jakarta's prime downtown business district. Grand Hyatt Jakarta hotel is adjacent to Indonesia's most comprehensive and sophisticated shopping mall, Plaza Indonesia, and is convenient for access to government offices, museums and Jakarta's cultural attractions. This hotel in Jakarta Indonesia is just 40 minutes by car from Jakarta's International Airport.

Grand Hyatt Jakarta offers 428 beautifully appointed hotel guest rooms, suites and apartments that provide a subtle blend of comfort and functionality. Located on the hotel's upper floors, the exclusive Hyatt Grand Club Lounge offers specialized services for the more discerning hotel guest.

The hotels wide choice of restaurants features the daily changing menu of Grand Caf, Cs Steak and Seafood Restaurants fresh fare, and delicacies from Sumire, a traditional Japanese countryhouse restaurant. For the convenience of hotel guests, there are also a 24-hour Business Center, a Club Olympus Fitness Center and an outdoor lagoon swimming pool with swim-up bar in the hotels lush tropical garden.

2000 square of flexible function space comprises seven function rooms and a Grand Ballroom, all connected to each other and located on the same floor. The Grand Ballroom can seat 700 guests theatre-style or 450 guests for a sit-down dinner. Professional service includes comprehensive state-of-the-art audio, visual and lighting systems and soundproof walls. Also featured are ISDN lines and videoconferencing on request.

Grand Hyatt Jakarta
Address: Jalan M.H. Thamrin Kav. 28-30 Jakarta 10230
Ph. (62-21) 390 1234 Fax. (62-21) 319 34321
Website : http://www.jakarta.grand.hyatt.com

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Kapoposang

Kapoposang is one of the largest of the Spermonde Islands, around 70 km northwest of Makassar, South Sulawesi. Kapoposang covers an area of around 50,000 hectares and is inhabited by around 100 families. Several other islands, both inhabited and uninhabited, lie near Kapoposang. The larger ones include Papandangan, Kondongbali, Suranti and Tambakulu.

Kapoposang and the nearby islands were declared a Nature Tourism Park by the Department of Forestry in 1999. Diving has been an important activity at Kapoposang since the mid 1990s, pioneered by several local divers including Sani Limbunan and Andi Januar Jaury. But because there were so few local divers at the time, and because of the distance from other well-known diving areas in Indonesia, Kapoposang has basically remained a secret.

Even now, there are only two accommodations at Kapoposang, managed by the Makasar Dive Centre and the Popsa Dive Club.

Your journey to Kapoposang Island starts from Popsa pier, near Fort Rotterdam, a historic fort surviving from the Gowa-Tallo kingdom.

The best time to visit Kapoposang is between April and November, when the seas are calm, the weather favorable, and the wind less fierce than in the other months. The trip takes two hours by speedboat; the ocean breezes help to cool your skin in the hot morning sun.

As you approach Pulau Kapoposang, you see the deep blue water, which suddenly meets an expanse of coral reefs between extensive shallows with white sands in the seabed. Sea grass also grows lushly near the shore. The sea bed at Kapoposang has a unique composition; near the island are some quite shallow contours, and then suddenly steep underwater cliffs leading to seemingly endless depths. The water is very clear; you can expect underwater visibility of over 15 meters – ideal conditions for divers.

We had to bring all our supplies from Makassar, because the accommodations on the island are not equipped with full logistical support. Luckily, we didn't have to bring a diving compressor, because this facility is provided at Kapoposang.

According to the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (LIPI), which conducts monitoring and assessment near Kapoposang, in 2007 there were over 68 species of coral, and over 160 fish species.

Diving points are found along the west, north and east coasts of Kapoposang; some of the best known are "Killing Field", "Shark Point", "Mardjono Point", "Nakano Point", "Cave Point", "Turtle Point", "Aquarium", "Januar Point" and "Ian's Point".

We did our first dive at Cave Point, a favorite spot for underwater photographers because of the extremely high diversity of marine life found here. Our dive started from the inner part of a rock wall; at a depth of four meters, a cliff nearly 90 degrees downward was right in front of us. We slowly approached the escarpment and gazed down into the deep blue water. It reminded us of the diving contours at Bunaken, with steep, seemingly bottomless escarpments providing great diving challenges. The visibility, over 20 meters, makes a dive down to 30 meters feel not that deep.

There were many small gaps in the escarpment; this is why it's called "Cave Point". The gaps in the coral typically form small caves where you may see turtles sleeping. But it must not have been our lucky day, because we didn't see any turtles, though we did encounter some large pelagic fish, including jackfish and tuna.

Suddenly, out of one of these little caves darted a white-tip reef shark, giving us a bit of a fright, though these sharks are not actually dangerous to humans.

Our second dive was at Killing Field, just 15 minutes from where we were staying. Killing Field is next to another dive spot called "Shark Point", and more challenging than Cave Point. The seabed walls are not as deep as at Cave Point; at a depth of around 30 meters, it changes to a vast expanse of sand.

The strong currents here attract large fish to feed. We came across a large Great Barracuda, perhaps a meter long. In the distance, we also saw several Eagle Rays, a type of stingray that swims in the open sea like pelagic fish; its head resembles and eagle's, and from a distance it does look like a flying bird.

We also did a night dive near the lodging, at a spot called "Aquarium". Our flashlights lit up the colorful coral reefs. Nudibranches, which are already quite colorful, seemed even more beautiful at night. We also encountered some sleeping puffer fishes. It's easier for divers to get close to fish at night, when they are less active. Aquarium is a very easy spot for diving, with depths of only around four to eight meters and almost no current.

At Ian's Point, concrete blocks have been planted to provide an environment for fish; these are called "fish aggregation devices", or in Indonesian, rumpon. The rumpon attract smaller fish, as here they can hide from predators. Eventually, coral will grow on them, and they will function as semi-artificial coral reefs.

Kapoposang's unique beauty makes it a useful asset for the local community, but it remains underutilized. Attention from the public and the local government will enable Kapoposang to become an icon for Indonesia and South Sulawesi.

This article from garuda magazine

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Kendari The Ever-growing City

This city that surrounds Kendari Bay has a unique panorama. Every part of the city offers a different experience and unforgettable impressions.

The sky was still cloudy when I landed at Wolter Monginsidi Airport in Kendari. The weather in Kendari has been quite variable recently – sometimes suddenly going cloudy and rainy, and then clear and hot a few moments later. Hoping it would stay clear, I started to explore Kendari as evening began to set in.

It's about 50 kilometers from the airport to the center of town, where I arrived after an hour's journey; the streets were lined on both sides with shop houses and restaurants.
Following a friend's recommendation, I had dinner at the Medulu restaurant on Jalan Ahmad Yani. Local specialties of Kendari such as sinonggi, tawaoloho ayam and kambatu tinomisi were my introduction to the local cuisine; it was very much to my liking, and I fell in love with these dishes straightaway.

After dinner, I got ready to explore the town by night. My first destination was Kendari Beach. You would imagine from the name that Kendari Beach is a sandy area by the seashore, with pounding waves, but not at all; Kendari Beach lies along the shores of Kendari Bay and is crowded with small food tents where you can hang out, enjoy the evening breezes, and snack on pisang epe with a glass of sarraba to warm you up. From these food tents, I could see the lights of ships sailing or docking in Kendari Bay. The night became even more enchanting when the cloud cover cleared and the sky filled with stars, making it a perfect evening.

The next morning, in a corner of the Old City of Kendari Bay, I saw the bustling fish market. Fishermen, fish vendors, and housewives were all busily engaged in transactions. One unusual thing I noticed is that nearly all the women here cover their faces with a thick layer of bedak dingin, literally "cold powder", which is made from rice flour and protects their skin from the cruel rays of the sun.

From the fish market, I explored the city with my friends from WWF Indonesia in Kendari. Kendari, with an area of 295.89 square kilometers, lies along the bay, stretching in a long arc along the coast and its green mangrove forests, with roads running right next to the bay. Fishing boats of all colors created an exotic morning scene. From the old city, where many of the residents are ethnic Chinese, to the traditional markets and on to the inter-island harbor, we saw a lot that morning. The roads were still fairly quiet; the cool morning air and the warm smiles of the local people made me happy to be alive.

An odd tower-shaped building with a round room at the top attracted my attention. From a distance, it looked like a space ship ready to blast off. This monument is actually the Unity Tower, located in the former MTQ arena in Korumba Subdistrict, Kendara District. The tower was built for the 21st National Qur'an Reading Contest (Musabaqah Tilawatil Qur'an, MTQ) in June 2006. It's a lofty structure, on the same level as the "Tower of Elegance" in Gorontalo province. If the shape of the tower in Gorontalo is reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Unity Tower in Kendari resembles the tower in Shanghai.

It's named the Unity Tower because the multi-ethnic community of Kendari lives together in such harmony: the Tolaki, Muna, Buton and many other ethnic groups, each with their own language. The Unity Tower, with its futuristic architecture, is an icon for the people of Southeast Sulawesi. Everywhere I went – Kendari Bay, the city center, and even the dense mangrove forests – the tower could be seen, rising nobly above it all. Unfortunately, despite its enchanting architecture, the ex-MTQ arena is not very well maintained; parts of the buildings are peeling off, damaged and abandoned.

Kendari has much more to offer than just the beautiful coastal panorama with its lovely deep blue sea; there are other natural enchantments even more challenging to explore. So my next stop was Rawa Aopa National Park.

Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park (TNRAW), with an area of 105,194 hectares, comprises many of the ecosystem types found in Sulawesi: low mountain rain forest, mangrove forest, coastal forest, savanna, and fresh-water marsh forest. Rawa Aopa is around 120 km from Kendari, a two-hour drive. Sad to say, the road to the national park is a challenge in itself, as many stretches are badly damaged.

In the national park, I enjoyed some extraordinary natural beauty. I explored a 30,000-hectare marsh in a small wooden boat, or katingting. A vast expanse of white and red lotus flowers (Victoria spp.) stretched along much of the marsh; other vegetation included many ferns and woody plants such as uti (Bacchia frutescen), waru (hibiscus, Planchonia valia), and betao (Calophyllum soulatn), among many others.

Now and then waterfowl would emerge from the dense thickets of Aopa Marsh, looking for fish; up in the sky, a flock of teal (belibis) flew by in a charming formation. There was even a tense moment when I saw a freshwater crocodile swimming by, not far from my little boat in the middle of the marsh. My journey through the marsh was most impressive when I was right in the middle; I felt a great sense of peace, an inevitable unity with nature. Truly extraordinary.

My adventure didn't end at Rawa Aopa; the next stop was the Moramo waterfalls in the Tanjung Peropa Wildlife Refuge. This is around 70 km south of Kendari, a two-hour drive. The Moramo waterfall is a 100-meter-high cascade with seven main levels. Each level forms a pool, and in the pool at the second level, you can swim. The cliffs that form the various levels are unusual, in that the rocks are not slippery; visitors can climb up the levels all the way to the top without fear of falling. These pools of cold, clean, clear water, surrounded by forests of ebony, teak and banyan, are an ideal habitat for birds and other creatures. I had another moment of enchantment when the wind blew and leaves fell off the trees near the waterfall; it felt like a slice of paradise in the midst of the great forest.

On the way back, I stopped off at beautiful Nambo Beach, just 12 km from Kendari. You can also get to this beach by traditional boat (kole-kole); it's just a 15-minute trip along Kendari Bay from Kendari harbor.

This beach is quite popular with the local people, because it's fairly near the city, very calm, with gentle slopes of white sand. The weather is cool and the panorama spectacular, so it's a favorite spot for the people of Kendari to go on the weekends and try to forget their daily grind. I savored a fresh coconut drink while enjoying the sunset at this peaceful beach.

Another thing I noticed in Kendari is cashew plantations along the roads. There are currently around 91,700 hectares of productive land producing cashews in Southeast Sulawesi, yielding 400 kg/hectare. It's no surprise that Southeast Sulawesi is famous for producing the best cashews in Eastern Indonesia, as well as cocoa beans (cacao). Cashew production areas are found in the regencies of Muna, Buton, Konawe, and South Konawe.

No visit to Kendari is complete without a stop at Dekranas, on Jl. A. Yani, your one-stop shop for Southeast Sulawesi handicrafts. This is the place to pick up all kinds of local handicrafts – silver crafts, pearl jewelry, woven products, and so on. You can also watch craftspersons producing souvenirs from silver, traditional woven fabrics, and wicker handbags.

Gembol handicraft production provides a livelihood for one community here; they gather teak and sandalwood burls and roots from the forests, and then skillfully craft these into works of art. Their village is on Jalan Chairil Anwar, around two kilometers from Kendari; you can get there by public transport or private vehicle. In this complex, the craftspersons produce items such as wall clocks, tables and chairs, ashtrays, and other household goods.

Southeast Sulawesi regularly plays host to international-level events. From 11 to 14 August is the Muna International Kite Festival 2009, presenting a huge variety of kites, especially kites made from leaves (kagati), the specialty of Muna, and attracting participants from abroad.

Early this year, the local government and people of Kendari won the 2009 Adipura Trophy; this award is given to a clean, beautiful city each year. This was the greatest honor for the people and government of Kendari since the autonomous region was established in 1995.

Kendari, the provincial capital of Southeast Sulawesi, is preparing development in all sectors. The city is constantly growing and expanding, growing more beautiful so it can stand on the same level as other provincial capitals.

Text by Virgina Veryastuti Photos by Jan Dekker

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64th Anniversary Indonesia

Since the police have uncovered terror plots targeted at heads of state, the president's security guards are taking the necessary steps to ensure the safety of all those attending Independence Day ceremonies at the State Palace on Aug. 17th.

Maj. Gen. Marciano Norman stated on Monday that the annual ceremony would be arranged in accordance with security measures to protect the president and all his guests.

“We hope many people will turn up for the commemoration and we will ensure their safety,” Marciano told Antara news agency in Nusa Dua, Bali.

He added that he would work with the Jakarta police and military to maintain security and order during the event.

When asked about the terror group’s threat to attack the president’s private residence in Cikeas in the West Java town of Bogor, Norman said there was no plan to relocate the president and his family.

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Discovering the Thousand Islands

As the name suggests, these small islands offer a wide range of attractions, from tourism to marine life.

Pulau Seribu, the "Thousand Islands", extend northward from Jakarta in Jakarta Bay. Actually numbering only around 140, they nevertheless offer many points of interest, particularly maritime tourism with white sand beaches, calm waters, and underwater coral formations. Most of the islands lie within the Maritime National Park; only 37 islands are allowed to be used for commercial purposes.

Pulau Rambut ("Hair Island"), also known as Bird Kingdom Island, is one of the closest to the mainland of Java; you can get there in just an hour from Muara Angke harbor. The status of this uninhabited 45-hectare island has recently been upgraded from nature preserve to wildlife preserve, because of the rising level of damage within and around the Pulau Rambut area.

In addition to coastal forest, mangrove forest and mixed secondary forest, the Pulau Rambut Wildlife Preserve is also home to 25 species of water birds, among the 61 bird species found there. These include pecuk ular (oriental darter), kuntul (egret), cangak (heron), bangau (stork), and ibis.

A 20-meter bird observation tower stands near the middle of the island. As well as birds, reptiles also live on the island, including monitor lizards, pythons, and geckos. The only mammals found here are fruit bats. There's also a great diversity of plant life, with tree species including pidada, mangrove, key lime, and banyan.

Also found on this island is a bird species that migrates from Australia, the milky stork (bangau bluwok, Mycteria cinerea), which arrives here in January and leaves in August. Pulau Rambut is the only breeding ground for milky storks in Java.

Not far from Pulau Rambut lies Pulau Onrust, near Pulau Cipir and Pulau Kelor. Onrust contains the remains of buildings, including a shipyard, built by the Dutch during the 18th century. Construction at Onrust was started in 1618 by Governor General Jan Pieterszoon Coen. In addition to a pier, he built a shipyard with a windmill to operate the saws.


During the Dutch colonial period, this island was very busy as a port of call for ships of the Dutch East Indies Company (Verenidge Oost Indische Compagnie, VOC), hence the name Onrust, which means "Never Rests".

Beyond Onrust, another interesting island to visit is Pulau Kotok. The Pulau Kotok Tourist Resort is a good example of a tropical atoll, with the original vegetation, clear seas, and colorful coral formations, making it a popular destination for divers. This island is also a rescue and translocation center for protected wildlife species including the white-bellied sea eagle (elang laut perut putih, Haliaeetus leucogaster) and the brahminy kite (elang bondol, Haliaster indus), the mascot of the province of DKI Jakarta.

Further out, around three hours from Muara Angke Harbor, lies Pulau Pramuka. This island houses the Kepulauan Seribu National Park and the Rare Marine Biota Hatchery and Laboratory, where you can watch and learn about the cultivation of rare marine species.

Pulau Pramuka is a sea-turtle dissemination area for the island of Java, particularly Hawksbill turtles (penyu sisik). Twenty years ago, most of the sandy beaches on 108 of the islands provided places where turtles laid their eggs. With the steady increase in human activity and habitation, now the turtles only visit a few islands to lay their eggs, among them Pulau Peteloran Timur, Pulau Peteloran Barat, Pulau Penjaliran Barat and Pulau Penjaliran Timur.

The Hawksbill turtle preservation activities at Pulau Pramuka involve collecting the turtle eggs from the beach where they are naturally laid at Pulau Peteloran. The eggs are then taken to Pulau Pramuka, where they are kept in semi-natural incubation by burying them 40-50 cm deep. The eggs hatch after 40 to 60 days. This turtle conservation activity has made the Thousand Islands a destination for marine conservation and education tourism.

In addition to Hawksbill turtle conservation, other activities on the island include planting of coastal plants – butun, mangrove, and sea grass – and coral reef preservation. The butun trees are being planted in an effort to raise awareness of the importance of coastal forests on small islands. Mangrove planting is done using the Spaced Cluster method, the nationally-approved method for planting mangroves on small islands using coral sand as the medium.

The fabulous underwater panoramas and exoticism of Kepulauan Seribu offer you an action-packed weekend of swimming, snorkeling and diving – a delightful and unforgettable experience.

Text by Virgina Veryastuti Photos by Ati Kurnia From Garuda Inflight Magazine

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Wayang Kulit, the Art from Nusantara

The Indonesian word 'wayang' is derived from a word meaning 'shadow' or 'ghost'. These intricately cut and perforated shadow puppets are made from buffalo hide. 'Kulit' means 'leather' or 'skin'. 'Wayang Kulit' has a documented history of existence of at least 800 years in the Indonesian archipelago.

This was an open air performance under the stars. A temporary bamboo platform had been constructed in the village square. It had a raised stage on which the puppeteer and musicians of the 'Gender Wayang' orchestra sat cross-legged. A fine cotton screen, called 'kelir', separates the dalang from his audience. This screen represents the universe and the light from a bronze oil lamp, called 'blencong' just in front of the dalang throws magical flickering shadows onto it.

There is no hiding the mechanics of the show as in Western theatre since the bamboo platform had no sides. The audience is free to sit either facing the screen, or can watch the dalang at work.

Before a play begins, the dalang undertakes several ceremonial acts and rituals to assure a successful performance. With great reverence, he taps three times on the wooden box containing all his puppets in order to wake them up. Figures of deities representing good and evil (sometimes over one hundred) are ranged in their prescribed place to the left and right hand sides of the screen. When quiescent, the puppets are spiked into the soft flesh of the trunk of a banana tree at the base of the cotton screen. This represents the earth.

The dalang underscores the action and the rhythm of his chanting while sitting cross-legged by tapping loudly with quickening tempo on the wooden puppet box at his back with a little bronze knob held between the toes of one foot. He also uses this device to conduct the small Gender Wayang orchestra of xylophones and gongs sitting behind him, all the time maintaining a number of different body rhythms as he manipulates the puppets.

The dalang is a highly venerated artist with exceptional powers over the elements at his command. He is a complete performer who excels in many things. He displays enormous physical and mental endurance. He is an orator with a prodigious memory who must be able to repeat many lengthy texts word for word but also improvise entire interludes ranging from ribald jokes to philosophical conversations. He is a scholar of literature and yet keeps himself abreast, not only of national events, but of everyday happenings in the district including the latest gossip and scandal. He must know all his figures, about one hundred or more, their nature and symbolic importance, and have such vocal dexterity as to give each its proper tone and pitch at times creating the illusion of conversation. He deftly composes scenes on the fly, all the while paying particular attention to the artistic arrangement of his figures. He poses them in stances appropriate to their character and situation and in keeping their relationship to each other. He has to compose and sing songs as well as direct the orchestra that accompanies him. Besides all this, he is a poet-playwright who shares new wisdom in a way that satisfies public taste.

So what is the effect of all this? When the puppet is pressed up against the cotton sheet, its shadow is sharp and steady. Where it curls away from the screen a little, the shadow rapidly softens. The flickering light from the uncertain oil lamp causes these indistinct portions to quiver and waver. Sometimes puppets are presented to the screen from behind the lamp instead of entering from the wings. When this happens, they seem to magically materialise out of the very air itself as soft indistinct forms darken, gathering form and substance as they near the screen. The effect is ethereal and utterly mesmerizing.

The compelling visual appeal of a Wayang Kulit show might easily be explained by the physical laws and properties of light. The spiritual and metaphysical dimensions of the shadow play are much harder for a Westerner to describe.

The shadow play is magically powerful. At times the dalang appears to be in a trance. It is commonly believed that the audience is protected from evil influences during a Wayang Kulit performance. Its vast repertoire of tales covers all aspects of life. As well as having an educational role in society, its stories provide spiritual guidance for the people. It is as though this translucent screen with its play of light and shadow is the interface between two realms of existence - a small rectangle in the fabric of the world mediated by the dalang from where spirit beings from other planes of existence impart the wisdom of the ages to mankind. Wayang characters provide types to be emulated, giving the young an idea of what qualities to strive for.

The balmy night air was sweet with the scent of clove cigarettes. The audience, from the very young to the very old, including one white man, was held spell bound by the skills of the dalang and the stories he told. Little children, cradled in their parent's arms, stared wide-eyed at the screen, transfixed by its magic. As the night wore on, they valiantly fought a losing battle against the relentlessness of sleep, their heads occasionally jerking, wanting so desperately to stay awake.

Exciting battle scenes are usually staged shortly after midnight. These are truly fantastic to watch and is technically one of the more exacting test's of the dalang's dexterity in manipulating his puppets. Some fight scenes require the physical engagement of characters, up to six at a time, and in others, opponents use a combination of weaponry and magical powers to achieve their ends. These sequences are rich with special effects. Cutouts representing balls of fire, lightening or tempest might be used. With a trick of light and shade and a deft exchange of the puppet, characters were made to transform before a wide-eyed audience into mystical beings, a garuda, a snake. There were moments of enthralling, almost cinematic action, which I thought compared favorably with the most exciting fast-paced fighting sequences from Hong Kong Kung Foo movies that you could imagine. Characters lunged at each other, their staccato jousting movements under scored by the rapid tapping of the brass knob between the dalang's toes. They wrestled back and forth across the screen, or were thrown bodily into the air to spin 360 degrees before being slammed into a dead stop against the screen by another puppet entering the fray from the back. As delicate as they look, the leather puppets are remarkably robust, and during fight scenes, are thrown roughly about the screen. At times the oil lamp is set swaying to heighten the chaos of the battlefield. This was better than television!

At other times the story demanded large formal chunks of dialogue spoken in Kawi, an ancient Javanese tongue derived from Sanskrit which nobody but the dalang understands. Such sequences are characterised by courtly speeches delivered with astonishing vocalisation. The dalang can modulate his voice from strong and powerful delivery to the very softly spoken. Sometimes shadow plays are broadcast on the radio without any imagery. The figures jerk forward ever so slightly when speaking and with restrained refined and measured gestures, use their outstretched hands to accent words. The technique is beautiful to watch. During these lengthy passages in ancient Kawi, the audience stretched weary bodies and moved about. Teenagers stood up and picked their way through the crowd to perhaps buy some roasted peanuts from the vendors gathered around, or a drink, or to chat with their boyfriends and girlfriends.

But it is the clowns such as, Semar, Bagong, Petruk, and in Bali, Togog and Bebrodesan, which are most loved by the audience, educated and illiterate alike, and with whom the Indonesian people most readily identify. They are cohorts allied to either the good or wicked. Since the clowns figures speak the everyday language of the people, they are also used to interpret the events within time-honoured stories told in ancient tongues. Witty, crude and forever trading crass insults and innuendoes, the buffoonery of these characters allows the dalang to launch into marvelous ad lib comic sequences that embellish stories with topical village gossip, political intrigue and scandal which can leave the audience clutching their stomachs in hysterical laughter.

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The Origin Of Keris

The origin of the Keris still remains a mystery. Javanese temple bas-reliefs are rich of warrior representation, but with edged weapons that have more to do with the Indian world than with the specificity of the Malay Keris.

This chapter will attempt to summarize the latest scholarship knowledge about the Keris and its origin.

And now Keris is use for complementary fashion in Indonesia specially in family kingdom.


For more information please visit http://old.blades.free.fr/keris/introduction/origin/history.htm

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