TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Limited space opens door to shoddy burial business
Change Size
In advance of death: Cemetery park officials unearth a fake grave in Menteng Pulo, South Jakarta, on Thursday. Fourteen graves have been identified as fake as some people book their final resting places well ahead of their future burials. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
I
n densely populated cities, a lack of space will always be a problem, with many forced to pay high costs for decent abodes. In Jakarta, the issue not only affects the living but also the dead.
Based on data from the Jakarta administration, around 100 city dwellers pass away per day, with cemeteries fast running out of space. With its Muslim-majority population, cremation is not the answer that many people are looking for.
The condition of cemeteries in South Jakarta suggests there is a sepulture crisis in the capital that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.
South Jakarta Parks and Cemeteries Agency head M. Iqbal said about 10 percent of spaces were still available at 18 cemeteries in the municipality.
He said the problem had forced him to treat “expired graves” as new burial plots by moving corpses a few inches and putting new bodies into the graves.
In Jakarta, graves need to be extended by a deceased person’s family member every three years.
“Upon failing to extend for six years, the grave will be considered expired,” Iqbal said.
The issue of overcrowded graveyards has been used by some to create an underground yet lucrative business.
Over the past two weeks, the Jakarta Parks and Cemeteries Agency has found at least 53 graves without corpses, with another 376 also suspected to be empty.
Agency head Djafar Muchlisin said civil servants who worked at cemeteries had for years run side businesses, offering vacant burial plots that appear to be occupied to residents for prices far higher than the official fee of Rp 60,000 (US$4.60) to Rp 100,000.
“Since May, at least 48 civil servants have been punished for carrying out such practices,” he told The Jakarta Post recently. “We will continue to crack down on fake graves to eradicate this kind of practice.”
Achmad Amir, head of a community unit in Menteng, Central Jakarta, said some residents in his area had paid Rp 1.7 million to secure burial spots for relatives at short notice. However, he said things had changed recently.
“Since Ahok took office, the administrative fees are much lower,” he said, referring to Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.
Despite the situation, Djafar said Jakarta residents should not be worried about grave availability as the city still had “copious amounts of land”.
Djafar said that only 385 of 596 hectares at 67 public cemeteries in the city were occupied, leaving around 211 ha of available space. However, he admitted that only 48 ha of the space could be used immediately as the rest was still being prepared.
“And don’t forget, we are still expanding the land so we can accommodate more,” Djafar said.
He added that the practice of grave stacking had been in place for years, but emphasized that it was only approved under strict conditions, including that the two corpses were related.
Nonetheless, like other metropolitan cities, Jakarta is inching closer to full capacity every day and land expansion will not be able to meet the demand for burial space forever.
___________________________
To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News.
For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com
