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History buffs shake dust off mausoleum
Bambang Sudiyanto uses a small blue cotton swab to repeatedly rub a marble wall in the bunker of a historical mausoleum in Petamburan, Central Jakarta, on Sunday morning, hoping to erase the graffiti on a once luxurious domed structure
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ambang Sudiyanto uses a small blue cotton swab to repeatedly rub a marble wall in the bunker of a historical mausoleum in Petamburan, Central Jakarta, on Sunday morning, hoping to erase the graffiti on a once luxurious domed structure.
Thirty minutes later, after emptying a bottle of porcelain cleaner, Bambang starts to feel desperate after tearing his cotton swab while most of the graffiti remained on the wall.
"It seems as if those irresponsible visitors used permanent markers," the history teacher told The Jakarta Post.
A few meters above Bambang, a dozen male and female volunteers faced their own challenges.
After cleaning up the floor and the pair of graves on the 83-year-old site, the volunteers had to wash away the dirt coating the mausoleum's dome and its wall.
"The wall is not only covered by a thick layer of ashes, but also bird droppings," Aji, one of the volunteers, said.
Located in the middle of the Petamburan public cemetery, the European-style mausoleum has become an icon of the Petamburan area. The mausoleum, which was built with imported Italian black-and-white marble, houses the preserved body of a legendary Chinese landlord named Khouw Oen Giok, who died in 1927, and his wife Um Sha Mo, who died 30 years later.
The site comprises, among others, a statue of a mourning angel, a dome and a bunker with the carved tombs of the childless couple.
The site is in a poor state, with the bunker flooded with rainwater and filthy mud and some of its marble stones knocked out of place. The Khouw's relatives have reportedly not visited the place for more than a decade.
"Since there is no one paying for the site maintenance, we have treated the mausoleum like other graves in this cemetery. We regularly cut the grass around the site but have no special orders to clean up the marble structure," Mamat, a cemetery caretakers, said.
Residents gathered on Sunday to launch a campaign to save and revitalize the neglected mausoleum.
"With this campaign, we hope to see the city administration and residents become aware of the priceless value of the place and the importance of preserving it," coordinator Amelia Devina said.
