Tree, what tree? City’s green past forgotten

Di pucuk pohon Cempaka (At the top of Champaca tree), Burung Kutilang bernyanyi (finch are chirping).

That is a verse from one of the better-known children’s songs Di Pucuk Pohon Cempaka, composed by Ibu Soed.

From the title we can see that the song, along with countless other songs, was inspired by different types of trees. Trees have been the source of inspiration for songs, literature, names of places and even baby’s names.

Trees have also been synonymous with countries, which have adopted them as national symbols or coat of arms. Sakura is synonymous with Japan, the Maple leaf is the center of the Canadian flag, and when bamboo is mentioned, China and its pandas spring to mind.

Some cities in Indonesia are named after trees, like Kendal in Central Java, which took its name from the Kendal tree (Cordia Bantamansis), and Tanjung Pandan in Belitung, which is named after a species of palm tree.

A large number of areas in Jakarta are named after various species of trees (e.g. Pondok Kopi, Kebon Nanas, Kelapa Dua and Pondok Aren). It is easy to imagine that in olden days Jakarta was green, as confirmed by one of Jakarta’s prominent landscape architects, Nirwono Joga, who said Jakarta was once known as a city of trees, as the tree-inspired names of many areas indicates.

But Jakarta is now a mere shadow of its greener past, he said.

“Unfortunately, the city’s development planners paid little attention to the environment. People have cut down big trees that are the actual icons of many areas,” he told The Jakarta Post.  

Now, in spite of self-referencing names of areas in Jakarta, most people are oblivious to Jakarta’s green past. In fact, the majority of people can no longer recognize iconic trees that have long defined Jakarta.

“People are familiar with the Cempaka Putih area in Central Jakarta, but they don’t know the tree that inspired the area’s name, the White Champaca tree (Michelia alba), because they can no longer find them,” Nirwono said.  

Awareness of the presence of the trees could help improve the sense of belonging for people who live in the area, and in turn could help nurture a preservation campaign, he added.

But the likelihood of Jakartans seeing legendary trees popping up on the city’s streets is small because the government has already said that planting trees would be very expensive.

Nirwono expects it would take another five years for the city government to be able to provide seedlings of some of Jakarta’s legendary trees.

“It will take five years before the seedlings are ready to be distributed, but the results will be amazing,” Nirwono said. Currently, Nirwono is working on a project to make the dream come true.

Tarsoen Waryono, winner of the prestigious environmental Kalpataru Award for championing the development of urban forests, said there were 73 areas in the capital named after local trees.  You may not realize it, but Menteng was named after the Menteng tree (Baccaurea racemosa) and Kemang is named after the robust Kemang tree (Mangifera kemanga), which was strong enough to withstand the annual flooding and bears mango-like fruit.

People in Bungur, near the Senen Railway Station, don’t realize that the Bungur Tree, or the “Pride of India” tree (Lagerstroemia speciosa) once lined the streets of their neighborhood.

“I don’t even know if Bungur is a tree,” said Billy, a resident of the sub-district.

Allaini, 63, a native Betawi (indigenous people of Jakarta) who lived in a cramped neighborhood of Jl. Bungur, said she barely remembered what the tree looked like because the majority of the trees had been felled to make way for construction.

Husen, a government employee who works in the up-market Menteng residential area, said he had never come across a Menteng tree in the neighborhood.

“I often see Menteng trees in Bogor, but not in this area,” he said, adding he remembered the sour taste of its fruit.

Jakarta, a city of 9.6 million people, has approximately four million trees, or only 0.4 tree per person.