Let's rebuild Old Town

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 10/23/2007 4:13 PM  |  Opinion

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

To turn Jakarta's decaying Old Town into a bustling location is a gargantuan task the city administration so far cannot afford.

It's not because city officials do not have the intellectual capacity, but more because they have too much selfish interest in the Old Town Revitalization Project.

The project was launched early this month by then Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso and the head of the city museum and cultural agency, Aurora Tambunan.

After several false starts, in 2004 the city administration revived the plan. They came up with a master plan designed by the Center for Urban Design Studies (PSUD), a Bandung-based consultancy firm chaired by city's long-time adviser, Mohammad Danisworo.

In the summary of the master plan, the city envisions the Old Town as a place to live, work, learn and play. Besides inviting businesses, the city would encourage cultural activities in the area.

It is a great plan but, naturally, it will take plenty of time and patience. At present, the area, from Sunda Kelapa in the north to Chinatown in the south, is just rotting away. There are moldy old buildings without roofs and windows. The museums are mostly without visitors, the rivers smelly and the streets congested. Existing businesses are wholesale markets, electronic shops, dodgy hotels and nightclubs, and seedy amusement centers.

To show this time they are serious, city authorities have announced that the Old Town Revitalization Project is one of the city's ""dedicated programs"", meaning it is among those projects of utmost importance.

This sounds like good news for many people: history buffs, heritage lovers, Jakarta families in need of alternatives to malls, the city itself, curious young people, foreign visitors and supposedly also local residents who would gain from the local economic growth.

However, up until now, this has not been the case.

To kick off the whole project, the city first revamped Fatahillah Square in front of Jakarta's historical museum.

In revamping the square, the city neglected a number of stakeholders who directly and indirectly were affected by the changes in the area. So far, evicted street vendors and businesses affected by traffic restrictions have been the direct victims of the project, along with everyone who gets stuck in the now much worse traffic.

Ignoring the locals is ill-advised; they will be reluctant to maintain peace and security in the area. In fact, this has already happened; put out some fancy garbage bins in the square and they will disappear in almost no time.

Archeologists and historians are also worried about how the city so far has disregarded precious artifacts in the Fatahillah project.

Most of the complaints and the hiccups could have been avoided had the city involved all stakeholders before making any crucial decisions. Apparently, the city ignored this part, resulting in objections from people who were supposed to be an important part of the revitalization.

Speculation has been rife about why exactly the city neglected the participatory process. One rumor says the Sutiyoso administration was eager to show the revitalization project was his initiative.

It's hard to believe the city lacks knowledge on the participatory process in a public-private partnership. Aurora Tambunan once told the press she had tried to involve stakeholders, including Sahabat Museum and Komunitas Historia.

It turned out that involving them did not include inviting them to a series of decision-making meetings. Instead, it only meant inviting the members of Sahabat Museum and Komunitas Historia to the ceremony.

Obviously, knowing the need for a participatory process does not necessarily translate into a commitment to this process. Nor does it mean a mastery over the process.

The city did not involve all the stakeholders in the first place, and even if they were invited the city did not seek a win-win solution.

An important aspect of a public-private partnership is the wisdom that the city should act only as a facilitator of a long and painstaking participatory process. It should act as the bridge between different and conflicting interests. It can not lean toward the interests of the powerful at the expense of the powerless. More than that, the city should not be swayed by the selfish desire for personal gain or credit.

Such a process might take hundreds of meetings over the course of years. Conflicts will surely arise and some compromises will be inevitable. No matter how painful it is, this process is crucial to make the revitalization sustainable.

If the city continues neglecting stakeholders, the project might end up being a bad patchwork vandalized by people who do not have a sense of belonging toward the area.

Nevertheless, there is still plenty of time for the city to make amend for the mistakes. Do it correctly, and we might see a bustling place full of wonders that will rival or perhaps eclipse Malaysia's Malaka.

The writer is a journalist with The Jakarta Post. She can be reached at evimariani@thejakartapost.com.

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