Prison Cell F-5

This is the present condition of prison cell number F-5 of the Banceuy Prison where Soekarno, Indonesian first president, was jailed by the Dutch Colonial Government from 1930 to 1931 for his involvement in the independence movement. As I said in the previous post, the whole prison has now been demolished and replaced with a shopping area, and this cell and a guard post are the only things that remain of it.



This is the 2.5 x 1.5 meter cell up close. It was in this cell that Soekarno composed his famous defense entitled "Indonesia Menggugat" (Indonesia Sues) with the help of books and other reading materials smuggled by his wife Inggit Ganarsih.

Considering this place's significance in the history of the nation's struggle for independence, this monument's condition is very pathetic and dirty. It is another example of how Bandung's government has no respect for history or historical sites.

The Historic Banceuy Prison

This guard post is one of the things that remains of the historic Banceuy Prison in the center of the city.

Banceuy Prison (Penjara Banceuy) is one of the most historic places in the city of Bandung. It was here that Soekarno, the first President of the Republic of Indonesia and one of the signers of its declaration of independence, was jailed -- from 1930 to 1931 -- for his role as a leader of the PNI (Indonesian National Party). PNI was one of the political parties that explicitly and actively advocated Indonesian independence from the Dutch.

There is no clear historical record when exactly this prison was constructed. But it may have been built towards the end of the 19th century, probably in the year 1871. In 1983, this prison was demolished and in its place was built a shopping center (called Banceuy Permai), leaving only this piece of relics and the prison cell in which Soekarno was jailed. The correctional facility has since that been moved to a new location to the south of the city.

The Banceuy Prison is a prominent examples of how historic buildings in this city have been demolished and replaced by new buildings in the name of development, an indiscriminate practice that unfortunately is still continuing today. Some fear that at the rate the heritage buildings are currently torn down, the city will very soon only have a little of its history left. Bandung will then become a city without (much) trace of its history.

Villa Isola Fish Pond

A father with his daughters enjoying the fish pond at the southern garden of Vila Isola on a Sunday morning.

I have previously posted several photos and stories about this villa before. As you may remember from those posts, Vila Isola is one of Bandung's most iconic art-deco architectural heritage. Built as a private residence in the early 1930s for an Italian-Dutch media tycoon Dominique William Berretty, the founder of the Aneta press-agency in the Dutch East Indies, Vila Isola was turned into a hotel just after his death in 1934. Then it became the Bandung headquarters of Japanese occupational army in the early 1940s when Japanese Imperial Army occupied the Indonesian archipelago and an Indonesian resistance army militia headquarters during the wars for independence. After the Indonesian Independence, it was renovated and made as the central piece of the newly established Teachers' Education College or PTPG campus in 1954.

The name of the college in which this building stands has changed several times since then: Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan (Faculty of Teacher Training and Pedagogy) or FKIP of the newly established Padjajaran University in 1958, Institut Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan (Institute of Teacher Training and Education Science) or IKIP Bandung in 1963, and Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (Indonesia University of Education) or UPI in 2004.

Since 2010, the building and its surrounding gardens have been renovated to revive its past grandeur. The renovation of the park that you can see at the background of the picture was completed this year and is now designated at Vila Isola Heritage Park.

Gedung Pakuan

This is Gedung Pakuan (lit. Pakuan Building or Mansion) on Jalan L.R.E. Martadinata No.1.

Gedung Pakuan is the official residence of the Governor of West Java Province. It was built in 1864 upon the order Van der Moore (then residen or governor of Priangan) when he decided to move the capital of Priangan from Cianjur to Bandung.

This piece Indische Empire Stijl (Indian Emperial Style) architeture was said to be designed by the head engineer of Departement van Burgerlijke Openbare Werken (Department of Public Works). Unfortunately, of all the books I've read about it, none mentioned the name of the person.

Gedung Pakuan is considered to be one of the most important pieces of Bandung's architectural heritage and, being the official residence of the governor of West Java, one of the best preserved.

Many head of states and important public figures have stayed in this mansion. The list includes the King of Siam (Thailand) Somdet Phra Paramendr Maha Chulalonkorn (1901), the Prime Minister of France Georgeos Clemenceau (1921), Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (1971), the President of Yugoslavia Josip Bros Tito, the Soviet Union's President Voroshilov, The United States' Attorney General Robert Kennedy, and even Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford.

Inside the Museum of The Asian-African Conference

The Museum of The Asian-African Conference was dedicated by then the Indonesian President Soeharto on April 24, 1980 as part of the 25th commemoration of the conference. The museum has a library, an audio-visual room where visitors could watch documentary films about the conference, and, like any other museums, authentic objects, documents, and photographs relevant to the conference, including an excellent collection of multimedia profiles of the participating countries.

Here is what the inside of the museum looks like today:



Photo 1: This is the main hall where the plenary sessions took place. The flags in the front row are those 29 original attendees of the conference in 1955. Those in the back row are the flags of the countries attending the 50th anniversary of the conference in 2005.



Photo 2: A diorama depicting Indonesia's first President Soekarno delivering his speech at the opening ceremony on April 18, 1955. Behind him are the leaders of the initiating countries.



Photo 3: The globe in the main hall of the museum. The golden colored territories are those of the original 29 independent countries respresented in the 1955 conference.





Photos 4 and 5: The exhibit hall displaying photographs and documents relevant to the conference.



Photo 6: The hall displaying the 10 Bandung Principles and its translations into the languages of the original participating countries.

The oldest steam roller?

This museum piece steam roller (steam-powered road roller) placed at the front yard of the West Java Provincial Office of Road Construction and Maintenance on Asia Afrika street could very well be one of the oldest steamroller in existence that is still intact outside the museum.

I have no information about the make or which year it was made (if any of you know, please let me know). But this steam roller is placed on the monument pedestal which marks Bandung Zero Kilometer and bears the following inscription:

N.W. DAENDELS, Governor General of the Dutch Indies (1808 - 1811) had one of his most important tasks given by his government, that was to build THE GREAT POST ROAD, DE GROOTE POSTWEG, stretching from Anyer (Banten) to Panarukan (East Java).

The main purpose of the construction of DE GROOTE POSTWEG was to intensify interprovincial communication in the frame of solidifying defense of the Island of Java.

When construction of the bride over the Cikapundung River was completed in 1810, on its inauguratin day, Governor General N.W. DAENDELS and the Regent of Bandung R.A.A. WIRANATAKUSUMAH II walked over it and reached this point. N.W. DAENDELS then struck a wooden rod into the ground while saying: "Zorg dat als igh terug kom nier een stad is geboud."

It means: "Make sure that when I return, a new city is built here."

At this particular point then people built a milestone signifying the Kilometer "0" (KILOMETER ZERO) point.

That moment twho hundered years ago when DAENDELS made the pronouncement is now considered to be the birthday of the city of Bandung.

Lapangan Tegallega

No, this is not a cemetary and these marked stones are not the tombstones. As you may have noticed, the inscription on the foreground stone reads "The Islamic Republic of Iran" and underneath it the local name of a plant and its latin name.

This is the Tegallega city forest/park where the Bandung Lautan Api (Bandung Sea of Fire) monument is located. These trees and the marker stones were planted and put in place in April 2005 to mark the 50th Anniversary or the Golden Jubilee of the Asian-African Conference. Each country that originally attended the Conference in 1955 is represented here by a tree and a stone-marker. The trees were ceremonially dedicated by the respresentatives of those countries who again came to Bandung to attend the anniversary in 2005.

The Bandung Conference, as some of you may have known, took place from April 18 to 25, 1955. Jointly organized by Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Burma (Myanmar), and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the conference - attended by representatives of 29 Asian and African nations, most of which were newly independent - was aimed at promoting political self-determination, mutual respect for sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, and equality. Specifically, this group of nations that later became the fetus of the Non-Alligned Movement (NAM) were also pursuing the agenda of Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation and resisting colonialism or neocolonialism by the world's superpowers.

Bandung Lautan Api (Bandung The Sea of Fire)

This is the Bandung Lautan Api (Bandung the Sea of Fire) Monument or BLA at Tegalega.

The BLA monument was erected to commemorate a historical event that took place in the city on the evening of March 24, 1946 (60 years ago today) when the inhabitants of the city deliberately burned down the city (read: their own houses and other important buildings) and evacuated it in a heroic act to prevent the city from being recaptured and used by the British and Allied Forces who were helping the Ductch to reclaim its former colony after the Japanese surrender.

The decision to burn down and abandon the city was reached at a deliberation of Majelis Persatuan Perjuangan Priangan (an organization that united all the people's militia fighting for the Indonesian independence in Bandung and its surrounding area) in the morning of 24 Maret 1946, and was announced and executed later on the same day.

Here is an old picture of the situation in Bandung after the event.

Bandung's Museums: Museum Pos Indonesia

Museum Pos Indonesia or the Indonesian Postal Museum is located east of Gedung Sate (West Java Gubernatorial Office Mansion) on Jalan Cilaki 73 (73 Cilaki Street), Bandung. Its building was in fact built as part of the Gedung Sate office complex. That is why they share the same architectural features.

Museum Pos Indonesia was established in 1933 as Post, Telegraph, and Telephone Museum (Museum PTT). It has the most extensive collection of stamps and other philatelic objects from all over the world, which include the oldest stamp in Indonesia (then the Netherlands’ East India) and some of the oldest stamps in the world. It also collects some of the world’s oldest post, telegraph, and telephone equipments and an impressive number of documents (photograph, pictures, paintings, leaflets, etc) that record the history of the development of the post, telegraph, and telephone services in Indonesia.

This museum is open for public free from 9 AM to 4 PM Monday through Friday, and from 9 AM to 2 PM on Saturday.

Bandung Architectural Heritage # 3: Bank Indonesia Building

Among its many other nicknames, Bandung was once also dubbed Indonesia's "Colonial Architectural Laboratory". According to journalist and writer Her Suganda (2007), this nickname was given because the architectural styles of most of the historical buildings in this city do not reflect the local, traditional architectural style. Buildings with different kinds of architectural styles, e.g. Netherlands' Indische/Indische Empirestijl, Roman Gothic, Classic, Neoclassic, Art Deco, Art Noeveau, etc., can be found in this city. Most of these buildings were built at about the same period (1920's to 1930's). According to historical records, 400 buildings of different architectural styles were built within this 20 year period. No fewer than 60 architects were involved in making Bandung as a colonial architectural laboratory, of which, according to historian Huip Akihary (Architectuur Stedebouw in Indonesie 1870 - 1970), 16 were top architects of the time.

Since I started this blog, I have at least posted two examples of Bandung's architectural heritage, here and here. Today's photos are of the building of Bank Indonesia on Jalan Braga (Braga Street), Bandung. This building was designed by architect Edward Cuypers and constructed in 1917 for Javache Bank (Bank of Java).

Text and pictures by Eki Qushay Akhwan

Skywatch Friday Post: Gedung Sate's Tiered Roof

This is the top floor terrace and the tiered roof of Gedung Sate. The skewered-barbecue (Indonesian: Sate) like structure at the top is what makes the building named "Gedung Sate" (Sate Building). For those of you who did not follow this blog regularly, you might want to refer here for the some architectural notes about this building.

Today's post is for my participation in the Skywatch Friday. To see other participants' photos, please check here

Skywatch Friday Post: Bandung Grand Mosque Tower

This is the photo for my participation in the Skywatch Friday this week.

This photo is of one of the two towers of Masjid Agung Bandung (also called Masjid Raya Bandung Propinsi Jawa Barat) or Bandung Grand Mosque. This mosque is located on the West side of Alun-alun Bandung (Bandung City Square) on Asia Afrika Street.

Masjid Agung Bandung has a history as long as the city itself. According to historian Sobana Hardjasaputra of Padjadjaran University, the mosque was erected on September 25, 1810 (the date when the capital of Bandung Regency was relocated from Dayeuh Kolot [the old city] to the present location).

Over the years, the shape of the mosque have changed many times. The present shape is the result of the renovation conducted in 2001-2003.

The Historic Villa Isola - A Skywatch Post

Text and picture by Eki Qushay Akhwan


Villa Isola (now called Bumi Siliwangi) is the rectorate office of Bandung's Indonesia University of Education (UPI). Located on Jalan Dr. Setiabudhi 229 overlooking the valley with the view of the city underneath, it is arguably one of the most beautiful historical buildings in Bandung and one of the most celebrated examples of art deco architectural heritage in the Asia Pacific region.

Villa Isola was built in 1932-1933 by a reknown Dutch East India's architect Wolff Schoemaker for the Dutch media tycoon Dominique William Berretty. Unfortunately, he did not live long enough to enjoy his treasured home villa. He died in 1934 in a plane crash enroute from Batavia (now, Jakarta) to Amsterdam six months after he moved into the villa.

Upon his death, the villa was sold and turned into a hotel. When the Japanese invaded what was then the Dutch East India in 1942, the building once again changed hands and became the headquarters for the Japanese Imperial Army in Bandung. The Indonesian people's liberation army took it over from the Japanese in 1945 when Indonesia declared it's independence and made it their headquarters. In 1954, the building was restored to its original condition and made into the main offices of what was then Perguruan Tinggi Pendidikan Guru (PTPG), Indonesia's first teachers' college, and what is now the Indonesia University of Education (UPI).

About the Photo:
I took this photo from the parking lot of my newly constructed office building, which is located just across a narrow on-campus road from this building a couple of days ago. It had been cloudy that day, but I was lucky. By the time I finished my classes and was ready to go home that afternoon, the sky cleared a bit and provided an excellent lighting condition for this beautiful skywatch shot.

Welcome to and enjoy my second Skywatch Friday post! And thank you for your visit and comment.

Bandung's Sister Cities

Text and pictures by Eki Qushay Akhwan

There are currently six cities that are formally linked as Bandung's sisters: Braunschweig (Germany), Forth Worth, Texas (USA), Suwon (South Korea), Hamamatsu (Japan), Cebu (The Philippines), and Bari (Italy).

Braunschweig was the first city to sign sister city cooperation agreement with Bandung. The MOU for this cooperation was signed on May 24, 1960 by Braunschweig's city director Hans Gunther Weber, Mayor Martha Fuchs, and the Indonesian ambassador to West Germany Dr. Zairin Zain. The document was later ammended and signed by Bandung's Mayor R. Priatnakusumah and Braunschweig's envoy Prof Dr George Eckert on June 2, 1960 in Bandung.



The second city to sign sister city cooperation agreement with Bandung was Forth Worth, Texas. The MOU for this cooperation was signed by Bandung's Mayor Ateng Wahyudi and Forth Worth's Mayor Bob Bolen on April 2, 1990. The sister city cooperation agreement was signed against the backdrop of an already existing cooperation between two aircraft industries located in both cities, i.e. Indonesia's PT IPTN (Nusantara Aircraft Industries, Ltd.) and Forth Worth's BELL Helicopter Industries.




Sister city agreement with the city of Suwon, South Korea, was signed on August 27, 1997. Suwon is the third city to have such an agreement with Bandung. Sister city agreements with the other three cities were signed only recently (two in 2005 at the occasion of 50th anniversary of Asian-African/Bandung Conference, and one in 2007.



To mark the cooperations with its sister cities, the people and the municipal government of Bandung have erected commemorative monuments, the photos of three of which I post today.

Note:
Sister city link/cooperation is a form of citizen to citizen diplomacy. This movement got its historic footing in September 1956 when President Dwight Eisenhower held a Conference on Citizen Diplomacy at the White House. You can read more about the history of Sister City Movement here.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Bandung Train Monument - The History of Railroad in Bandung

Text and picture by Eki Qushay Akhwan

Train was first introduced to Indonesia (then, Dutch East India) in 1864 with the construction of the first rail road between Kemijen and Tanggung (26 kilometers) in Central Java.



It was twenty years later, on May 17th, 1884, that the first train arrived in Bandung after the Dutch colonial government successfully contructed the rail road that linked Jakarta (then Batavia), Bogor (then Buitenzorg), Sukabumi, Ciajur, and Bandung. The effort to build this rail road was a formidable one as Bandung is located on a plateau and surrounded by mountainous terrains and deep valley rivers.

The second, more direct, and shorter railway route that connects Jakarta and Bandung through Cikampek and Purwakarta was successfully contstructed and dedicated on May 2nd, 1906, about a month after Bandung received its status as a municipality (Ductch: Gemeente) on April 1 of the same year. This new route cut the travel time between Jakarta and Bandung by about a half (with the former route it took about 6 hours to get to Bandung from Jakarta; with the new rounte it took only 2 hours and 45 minutes). This was a significant development in the history of Bandung as city. The speedier connection between Batavia and Bandung gave a significant boost to Bandung’s growth as an interior urban center.



The monument pictured here is located in the southern gate of Bandung Railway Station. It is a relatively new installation. In the spot where it stands now, there used to be a triangulation lamp tower that was built to mark the unniversary of SS (Staat Spoorwagen – State Railway Company). The lamp tower was designed by Ir. E.H. de Roo.

City of People: Long Live the Republic - The Story of A Veteran

Text and pictures by Eki Qushay Akhwan

Today, August 17th, sixty three years ago, Indonesia proclaimed its independence. The history about our country's struggle for independence, our flag, and our coat of arms (the quintessential symbols of our existence as a nation state), may be found anywhere else on the internet. So, instead of picturing those symbols, allow me to share with you today the story of an individual; an eye-witness to our struggle for independence and for defending it against the colonial forces that was trying to recapture their former colony and subdue our independence.



He might be a nobody. He might look like anybody. He's old and fragile. But it was for him and people like him that we now enjoy our independence.



His name is Saleh. A simple name. No title. No glittering stars decorating his chest. Only two simple and worn-out medals recognizing the service he had given to his country. He's wearing them proudly today. He's a fragile 78 year old man now. He was barely 15 when Indonesia proclaimed its independence. Yet, when the duty called to defend the young Republic, he unhesitantly raised his arms: ready to give his life to defend his rights, his people's rights, and the rights of all human kinds - freedom!



I met him today at the Gasibu Square (the field in front of Gedung Sate, Bandung, West Java's governor's office mansion), just after the ceremony commemorating the 63rd anniversary of our proclamation of independence. He's still very much spirited when I asked him to share the story about the battles that took place in Bandung and its surrounding areas to defend the young Republic.



I hope we will never forget men and women like him who fought for our independence. Our independence did not come as a free gift. We should never take it for granted. It is our turn now to give our best, so that the country that he and many others like him had helped established may prosper and have a dignified place among nations.

Bandung Cathedral: The History

Text and picture by Eki Qushay Akhwan

The Bandung Cathedral or the Saint Peter Church on Merdeka Street (merdeka means freedom) is one of the most notable landmarks of the city of Bandung.

The church, which was designed by Ir. C.P. Wolff Schoemaker, was built as part of the Civic Center area (which includes a city hall, a park, a school, a police station, a bank, and a Protestant church) when the city of Bandung received its municipality status (Dutch: gementee) on April 1, 1906. Its construction began in 1921 and was completed and consecrated by Mgr. Luypen on February 19, 1922.

The Saint Peter Church replaced the Saint Regis Church which had previously served the Catholics in Bandung from 1895.

Catholics make up about 3.05 percent (or about 6.5 millions) of Indonesian population (as of the year 2000).

Bandung Daily Photo

Bandung History Revisited

These two young people were looking at a ten-meter long banner outlining Bandung's historical highlights. The banner was displayed at a festival recently organized by STV - a local television station - on Braga street. The banner was put up as part of the efforts to educate the citizens, particularly the youths, about the city's history.

While it is not one of the oldest cities in Indonesia (it's officially only 198 years old this year; compare this to Jakarta, for example, which is officially 481 years old this year) , Bandung has a fascinating history. The following is the excerpt of Bandung's history from Wikipedia:

Early Settlement
Although the oldest reference to the city dates back to 1488, where it was the capital of the Kingdom of Pajajaran, there have been some archaeological findings of Austropithecus or Java Man, living in the banks of Cikapunding river and around the old lake of Bandung.

Dutch East India Company (VOC)
During the 17th-18th centuries, the Dutch East Indies company (VOC), made small plantation area in the fertile and properous Bandung area. A supply road connecting Batavia (now Jakarta), Bogor, Cianjur, Bandung, Sumedang and Cirebon was built in 1786.

In 1809, Louis Napoleon, the ruler of the Netherlands and its colonies, ordered the Dutch Indies Governor H.W. Daendels to increase the defense system of Java island against British. Daendels built a road, stretching about 1000 km from the west coast to the east cost of Java. Since the northern part of West Java at that time was only swamp and marsh, the road was diverted through Bandung.The Great Postweg (now Jalan Asia-Afrika) was laid down in 1810.

Local folklore has it that when Daendels was walking along the edge of Cikapundung river, He was amazed by the site where he stood. He then put a stick at the edge of the Cikapundung and said: "Zorg, dat als ik terug kom hier een stad is gebouwd!" ('Attention! If I come again here, a city must be built!'). Today, this site is the center of Bandung, the kilometer zero of the city. R.A. Wiranatakusumah II, the regent of Bandung regency at that time, moved its office from Krapyak, in the south, to a place near a pair of holy city wells (sumur Bandung), today this site is the alun-alun (city square). He built his istana (palace), masjid agung (the grand mosque) and pendopo ("pavilion") in the classical orientation. The pendopo faces Tangkuban Perahu mountain, who was believed to have a mystical ambience.

In 1880, the first major railroad between Batavia and Bandung was laid down. It gave a high boost of light industry in Bandung. Chinese migrants flocked in to help run the facilities, services and vendor machines. A small old Chinatown district can still be recognised in the vicinity of the railroad station. In 1906, Bandung was given the status of gemeente (municipality) and then later as staadsgemeente (city municipality) in 1926.

Having location in a lowland, surrounded by a ring of mountains, Bandung is strategically advantageous for military defense. In 1930s, Dutch East Indies government had planned to move the capital from Batavia to Bandung. The Dutch East Indies government built military barracks, the central government building (Gouvernments Bedrijven, nicknamed Gedung Sate) and other buildings. However, this plan has never been realised following the failure of the Dutch to reclaim Indonesia after the World War II.

A more complete account can be found here.

Bandung Daily Photo