Final resting place: Diggers prepare graves for unidentified corpses on Feb. 6 at the Tegal Alur II cemetery.(JP/MOS)

Nobody can choose where to die, but if the choice was theirs, most of the capital'€™s residents would advise, '€œDon'€™t die in Jakarta.'€

This decades-old saying still rings true. The city is just as crowded and costly as ever, and the red tape just as convoluted for the dead as for the living.

With a population of around 10 million and an average of 75 deaths daily for a total of 27,375 annually, Jakarta has a chronic space problem.

The public cemeteries, of which there are 77, are overcrowded. Even those in the satellite municipalities '€” Bekasi, Bogor, Depok and Tangerang '€” are filling up rapidly.

'€œCemetery plots are still available in Jakarta proper for up to three or four years,'€ said Ratna Diah Kurniati, head of the Jakarta Parks and Cemeteries Agency, adding that steps were being taken to expand the Tegal Alur, Pondok Rangon and Srengseng Sawah municipal government-managed cemeteries.

Other city-run cemeteries exist, many of them denominational. Among these are the Karet Bivak Muslim Cemetery and the Petamburan Christian Cemetery, both in Central Jakarta, and the Susukan Budha Cemetery in East Jakarta.

The private sector has also stepped in, with burial sites developed outside the city. The Jakarta diocese of the Catholic Church has developed the Kampung Sawah Catholic Cemetery in Bekasi, while the Pesantren Islam Al-Azhar Foundation established the Al-Azhar Memorial Garden Cemetery just outside Jakarta in East Karawang, West Java, in 2011.

The business sector also provides commercial cemetery and funeral services. PT Alam Hijau Lestari, a subsidiary of Malaysia-based NV Multi Asia SDN Bhd, established Lestari Memorial Park in Karawang in 2003 to serve the Christian and Buddhist communities of the capital. In 2006, Lippo Group started developing the San Diego Hills Memorial Park and Funeral Homes, which is now marketing its services to the general public of all religions.

In a split from tradition, San Diego Hills offers more than just burial plots. It has four funeral homes '€” Protestant, Catholic, Muslim and Buddhist '€” that provide a full range of undertaking and funeral services.

Traditionally, services related to death and dying have been provided by individual community organizations, small businesses, religious institutions and foundations. However, in a sprawling metropolis like Jakarta, it has become necessary to modernize services, which means offering a little bit of everything all in one place.

Affordability is also being given more attention, with the government providing free burial for the indigent, while commercial enterprises leap on the chance to cater to the growing middle-class and its vast expendable income.

Currently, a burial plot in Greater Jakarta could cost you anywhere from nothing up to Rp 10.1 billion, not including other incidentals.

The Jakarta administration has established One-stop Integrated Service Centers in every district to assist people burying their love ones in local cemeteries. These service centers provide access to burial plots, the services of grave diggers, funeral rite facilities such as tents, chairs and sound systems and even groundskeepers.

Other services, such as grief counseling, undertaking, coffin-making and provision of floral arrangements, can be obtained through religious organizations, foundations and small specialized enterprises.

Now, with improved assistance and services provided by the government and the private sector, breathing our last in Jakarta doesn'€™t seem such a bad prospect after all. (JP/team)

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