In the daytime, the paved area in front of the Jakarta History Museum in the Old Town, or Kota, in West Jakarta is a favorite hang out spot for Jakarta residents, including photographers hunting for the perfect backdrop.

But not when night falls.

When The Jakarta Post visited the area on Saturday evening, it looked dull and gloomy as it was only illuminated by street lamps and four spotlights on top of the museum.

In dim and quiet street corners between the old buildings, young couples sat, while at other corners, homeless people were sleeping.

Plastic trash littered the streets, making them look more desolate.

Fika, who works at Cafe Batavia, located in front of the museum, said the museum management installed street lamps to illuminate the area several days ago.

Fika said people riding motorcycles had entered the vicinity, which is closed off to motorcycle and vehicle traffic, by breaking through the fence installed by the museum management.

“They may have vandalized the lamps,” she said.

However, Candrian Attahiyat, head of the Old Town management unit, suspected the street lamps were broken during New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Candrian said his management had asked West Jakarta’s street lighting subagency to switch off the power to the lamps to avoid threats of passers-by being accidentally electrocuted.

“We’ve asked the subagency to fix them immediately,” Candrian said, adding that a visitor was reportedly injured after being electrocuted several days ago.

Candrian said another of the perennial problems faced by the management team was the ubiquitous street vendors.

“We are still in the process of allocating space for them so they become more orderly,” he said.

He added there were more than 50 street vendors operating in the complex.

Robert Tambunan, the head of the Old Town Solidarity overseeing the museum park and Kali Besar area, expressed his hope that street vendors would be better organized when the West Jakarta administration goes ahead with its plan to launch so-called night tourism toward the middle of this month.

Robert said the event, which had been delayed since June last year, would let visitors take a night stroll along Jl. Pintu Besar Utara and enjoy traditional performances every night.

“We will ask the [vendors] to move to the parking areas,” he said.

“The city administration should allocate us a special zone as on Jl. Sabang [in Central Jakarta],” said Junaidi, a beverage street vendor, referring to the relocation project carried out by Central Jakarta municipality of street vendors on Jl. Sabang in Central Jakarta to a special alley.

Popular

Albanese basks in win, vows 'orderly' government

Anxiety, pride as Harvard digs in for Trump 'blitzkrieg'

Power begins to return after outage in Indonesia's Bali island