Jakarta’s historical documents in peril

Jakarta’s history can be revealed in a variety of ways, but written texts remain the most precise and vivid records of the history of the city.

Thanks to the Internet, people can now obtain information about Jakarta’s history in the blink of an eye.

However, Google and Yahoo searches cannot provide a complete historical picture, with mistaken and sometimes false information circulating online, experts say.

Apparently, the digital information age can only take us so far.

To discover Jakarta’s real history one needs to embark on the slow and painstaking journey through Indonesia’s archives and libraries.

Old and often faded texts reveal the capital’s history in striking color, but are also in great danger because of the poor management of such precious archives.

So far, there are only two places in the capital that preserve documents from Jakarta’s history since the 17th century.

The National Library in Salemba, Central Jakarta and the National Archives in Ampera, South Jakarta, preserve old publications including newspapers, magazines and journals, as well as the diaries of powerful people in former times.

National Archives spokesman Hilman Rosmana said the most sought-after documents there are the diaries of Dutch Governor General Herman Willem Daendels, the ruler of Jakarta (called Batavia during the Dutch era) between 1808 and 1811.

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The collection must be stored in a room at a constant temperature of 22 degrees Celsius, meaning the air conditioning must be on around-the-clock.

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“People want to know the story of the city through his writings, which many say are comprehensive,” he said.

The National Archives has a collection of more than 30 linear kilometers of text, with more than 1,000 documents related to the history of Jakarta.

Other historical collections are believed to be scattered throughout local libraries run by the city administration.

However, a lack of funding and awareness of the historical value of certain documents has left many precious texts disregarded and overlooked.

Many library collections, especially those with very old texts, are also in a poor condition because of a lack of trained conservators in libraries.

National Library spokesperson Lily Suarny said the government had started managing the care of old texts scattered about the capital by moving all the collections from museums in the city to the library.

So far, the National Library has around 350,000 documents from museums, including magazines dating from the 17th century.

“Only 50 of [the documents] discuss the history of Jakarta,” Lily said.

Unfortunately, being in the possession of trusted agencies does not guarantee old texts are treated with care.

Some documents are misplaced, others are recklessly stored on shelves even if they are centuries old.

During a recent visit to the National Archives, The Jakarta Post easily obtained access to a 300-year old document about Batavia, and was even able to touch its pages.

The same applies to the National Library. A frequent visitor, Harmon, said some of the documents in its collection had disappeared.

“It may have been during the move from the old building,” said Harmon, 65, who was searching for old documents about West Sumatra for his project on local languages.

Beginning in 1989, the library complex in Salemba housed collections originating from various libraries in the city.

However, the library’s management blames the government for an insufficient allocation of funds that has hampered its efforts to carry out proper restoration programs.

“We have a very limited budget to digitize our collection, so many texts have yet to be digitized.

“That is why people can still access original documents,” Hilman said.

The library also suffers from other budget constraints, since it must allocate large sums of money to protect its collection as old texts must be kept in archival conditions to avoid deterioration, he said.

“The collection must be stored in a room at a constant temperature of 22 degrees Celsius, meaning the air conditioning must be on around-the-clock.

“Not only that, we also have to fumigate the rooms once a year to kill bacteria and insects,” Hilman said.