Jakarta cemeteries about to get flatter

Jakarta Parks and Cemeteries Agency says it will continue with plans to keep burial plots level at cemeteries, amid protests from certain families.

"We will propose a revision of the local ordinance so there can no longer be mounds of earth any more. [The mounds] will later be flattened and marked with plaques buried in the ground," Jakarta Parks and Cemeteries Agency chief Catharina Surowati said Friday.

Catherina added that many people had violated the ruling, which limits earth mounds on burial plots to less than 10 centimeters in height.

She further added that efforts to rearrange cemeteries had been refused by families of the deceased. Catherina said the agency would begin to replace the tombstones with plaques this year to give cemeteries a more uniform look.

"This program will be free of charge," she said, as quoted by beritajakarta.com