Teeing Off With Tradition

The country’s oldest golf club is looking to preserve its past and prestige.
By Sally Piri

The Jakarta Golf Club has seen many changes during its 138 years, from the revolving door of governments to the supersizing of the capital, but it still holds fast to tradition.

Although a busy toll road now lies only a few meters away, the par-70 course is a genteel reminder
of the days when golf was about leisure and not big business.

Its 36 hectares in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, do not feature hilly fairways, greens nestled against spectacular backdrops designed by big-name golfers, or golf carts busily ferrying members to and fro. Rather, it has a classic design, earning it the label “the St. Andrews of Indonesia” after the legendary Scottish links.

It was founded in 1872 by a group of British expatriates. At that time, it was the Europeans-only Batavia Golf Club, a nine-hole course located in Central Jakarta near what is now the National Monument park. In 1932, the Dutch governor-general registered it for the colony.

But these days, Indonesians call the shots, although that change was a long time coming. Even after independence in 1945, most members were expatriates. Editions from the 1950s of The 19th Hole, an in-house bulletin for members listing tee-off times and Christmas parties, have plenty of  references to members called Smith and Wilson, but only to a few Indonesians.
Cl
ub President M. Harjono Kartohadiprodjo, a member since 1972, said E. Martadinata, a former Navy chief of staff, was the first Indonesian to head the club, in 1960.

“Our people were prohibited from entering certain areas, such as taking the stairs in the clubhouse, and until the end of the 1950s no Indonesians could sit on the club committee,” he says.

Marta, a 57-year-old caddy turned club pro, has lived all his life in the area. When he was a boy, his mother would warn him not to stray onto the club grounds.

“If we got caught, we would be sent to a cell inside the golf course area,” he recalls.

Members Only

When the club did open up to Indonesians, it was not to all comers. There was a long waiting list for membership: Robby Robot, who has been a member since 1973, remembers the strict requirements to make it onto the members’ roll.

“We had to take a skill test and also have recommendations from club members,” says Robby, who was the club’s general manager from 2000 to 2007.

Members have included many prominent Indonesians from politics and business, including first vice president Mohammad Hatta, Prof. Dr. Supomo, Mohammad Roem, Ahmad Yani, A.H. Nasution, Gatot Subroto, Bob Hasan and members of the Sutowo family.

The club’s prestige intensified when former president Soeharto and many of his ministers and business associates joined in the 1980s and 1990s. Soeharto often invited visiting dignitaries, including former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos and Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, to tackle the short, narrow fairways surrounded by hazards of trees, doglegs, ponds and bunkers.

Today, the club has about 2,750 members, funded by members’ annual dues (about Rp 3.6 million), green fees and donations.

Although Harjono says some previous club officials leaned toward turning the club into a profit-making venture, he wants to keep to its founding principles.

“Jakarta Golf Club is a club, it is not a commercial golf course,” he says. “We are not seeking profit, what we do is just for the members.” He adds that membership fees are used for maintenance and for the benefit of members.

He points out the club supports the development of the sport – among the caddies who have becomes pros are local standouts Junaidi Alex, Sobari and Untung – and provides jobs for members of the surrounding community.

Historical Links

Golf is an expensive but booming pastime in the capital, drawing not only moneyed locals but also expatriates, particularly from the Japanese and Korean communities.

As more modern and flashier clubs have sprung up, Jakarta Golf Club’s distinction remains its heritage. Its founding date makes it the oldest club not only in Indonesia, but in all of Southeast Asia. The oldest clubs in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines date back to 1891, 1893 and 1901, respectively.

For this reason, the club has applied to the city administration for recognition as a national heritage site. Its application states that designation of such sites should not be restricted to archaeological sites or other “conventional” remnants of the past.

It also notes historical precedents for golf courses to receive such status, including elsewhere in Indonesia: The A. Yani Golf Club in Surabaya was designated a heritage site in 2009 by mayoral decree.

The Jakarta Golf Club’s application claims the status is fitting for several reasons, including the club’s significance in pioneering the development of the sport in Indonesia and its careful adherence to its legacy.

“The golf course and its historic collection is a cultural resource with a high preservation value,” it says. “This resource is a national cultural asset that plays an important role in shaping national identity amid the influx of globalization. One means for preservation will be the construction of an Indonesian golf museum. Rawamangun golf course and Jakarta Golf Club are worthy of national pride, as with other historic and cultural legacies.”

It also notes the course’s significance as a green space, an increasing rarity in Jakarta’s urban jungle, with about 3,000 trees and more than a dozen ponds containing 250,000 cubic meters of water.

That “this area can be an open space”, Harjono says, supports the city regulation to create a 30 percent green belt area for a more livable Jakarta.

The national heritage designation also would help ensure the club’s survival, Harjono says, including the expected exemptions from city taxes. The club currently pays Rp 1.5 billion a year in land and building taxes alone.

Harjono is hopeful the city will approve the application by the end of the year. But either way, the club is still all about its members and their shared love of the game, a love that crosses generations. Even as Harjono mentions a longtime member, now in his 80s, who still plays but may use a cart in deference to his age, he watches through his office window as a young man lines up a putt on the practice green.

“Let the members enjoy the club, and the club can be their avenue to meet friends,” he says.

Just like old times.

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