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Jakarta Post

Frans Tumbuan: In the days of old

The Jaya Pub is one of Jakarta’s most authentic and popular curiosities

Matthew MacLachlan (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, July 1, 2010

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Frans Tumbuan: In the days of old

The Jaya Pub is one of Jakarta’s most authentic and popular curiosities.

Frans Tumbuan and his wife Rima Melati. Courtesy of Frans Tumbuan

Its ancient, craggy wooden beams have borne the decades-old tobacco smoke of the 70s; the relics that adorn the walls (and nooks, and shelves), in a mish-mash of vintage sublimity, have overheard the timeless chatter of generations; whilst the deeply-lined face of the bartender, Toto, tells the story of 30 years’ loyal service.

At night, the clapped-out piano behind the bar, the live performances, and roaming lights, bring the place to life, pushing away the memories of young intellectuals who used to gather there during Soeharto’s regime, or the secret police that raided the place to discover them.

It is rustic and alluring, old but not out-dated, excessively charming, understated and totally lovable — a physical culmination of the eccentricities, concerns, and hopes, of the man who created it — Frans Tumbuan, the well-known Indonesian-Dutch actor and restaurateur.

“It started with a French restaurant Le Bistro in 1976,” he recalled. “It was in our house, nearby in Menteng. In those days, you only had five-star international hotels and then the warung. We were among the first to make it, not luxurious, but middle class, you know.”

Nowadays, Le Bistro can be found just behind the Jaya Pub — the feel, and atmosphere very much the same.

“I love, not exactly antiques, but heritage, and old things. And I also had a passion for France — in the 60s, you haven’t heard of it maybe, but those were the days my friend!” he says, leaning forward with a rich, throaty chuckle, “existentialism, Jean Paul Sartre, les chansons, they called people like me Francophile.”

“Every weekend we were hitch-hiking to Paris from Holland,” again chuckling, “drinking coffee in the Boulevard Saint-Michel, walking around Montparnasse, Montmartre — that was enough for us. I thought of a French restaurant in Indonesia — Le Bistro was born, and the Jaya Pub came almost immediately afterwards.”

Having met the famous Indonesian actress Rima Melati in Holland in the early 70s, Frans sold the three restaurants he had there, and his small hotel in Amsterdam, to return to Indonesia.

“We fell in love, and that’s how I got back here,” he says. “Le Bistro, that was Rima’s place, she was the best hostess in town... And I was the guy in the Jaya Pub! That was also new — I was the bartender.

People couldn’t believe it — the husband of Rima Melati, famous actress, was bartending — that was the atmosphere of the Jaya Pub.”

Frans Tumbuan was born in Indonesia but moved to Holland in 1949 when he was around 8 years old. His father, an Indonesian working for the Dutch colonial government, was granted geligkgesteld, Dutch citizenship. As a melting pot of Indonesian and Dutch culture himself, Frans wanted a place that could capture the old-style pubs of Europe.

“They called them the brown cafés in Amsterdam, where writers, and actors, and painters, but also shop-owners, and the vegetable man, could go there and talk to each other. I had started acting back then, film acting, and after shooting, there was nothing to go to like this. It was the first place where foreigners and Indonesians met on an equal basis. Those days, only the generals and the top businessmen met each other from abroad. The Jaya Pub started like that.”

And how right this formula was. Still today, the Jaya Pub is a famous meeting place for both locals and foreigners alike, the extraordinary atmosphere obliterating prejudices, and worries and the day’s strife.

As remarkable as its history, however, are the staff — many of whom have worked in there for over 30 years — recruited straight from Hotel Indonesia.

“I always wanted the waiters, and bartenders, from Hotel Indonesia. They had this atmosphere, the old-butler type, which they’ve still got, especially today.”

 “Nowadays, you will still see beautiful and tidy-looking waiters, [but] it’s so different to the old-fashioned system. I always feel at ease if I’m served, you know like this,” he said, mimicking the cloth-over-forearm procedure of traditional waiters at table.

“In the hotel business nowadays, I’m sorry to say, there are so many ‘professional idiots’. You know, ‘good evening Sir, did you make a reservation?’, and those maitre d’s looking for a white wine glass, and red wine glass — they miss the personality.”

Now in the twilight of his life, at 70 years old, Frans enjoys remembering the past, and preserving it in Jakarta today. Brimming with stories from his esteemed acting career, his mother-in-law (who established Indonesia’s first modeling agency — “they’re all old ladies now!” he chuckles), and his lifetime of traveling in Europe and Asia, he is thinking about the future of the place.

“I miss the real Jakarta, I consider the Jaya Pub as a real Jakarta place. People say it’s Western — it’s not Western! I always try to get a good mix [of cultures].”

“I don’t like the new development in Jakarta — there’s no creativity. Places like Amsterdam and London, you know, have real couleur locale [local color] — I was thinking, if you are a bartender, an English bartender, you work hard, after 20 years you get a chance, you can start a place — whether it’s a success or not, there is one real, English pub because you made it. You don’t see this in Jakarta because you see everywhere a Starbuck’s, or a Coffee Bean — I like a Starbuck’s, you know, but I miss the real Jakarta.”

 “Don’t tell me there isn’t an Indonesian guy that can’t make something authentic. If you think nearly every city in the world has an old heritage, an old hotel, what does Jakarta have? Not one. There was a beautiful building here, a beautiful Dutch hotel and they knocked it down…it’s all money, money, money.

The real old buildings, Indonesia — we missed that.”

It’s a sad occurrence, one that badly needs rectifying, but now all Indonesia can do is wait for someone to take inspiration from Frans, his lifetime, the iconic institutions he’s fathered, and bring the old Jakarta into the next generation.

 

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