Visitors to the Mbah Priok memorial in North Jakarta have welcomed the Jakarta administration’s plan to transform the site into a cultural heritage site and religious attraction.

“A place like this should have been preserved a long time ago,” said Sulaiman, 45, a visitor from Martapura, South Kalimantan, recently.

Another visitor, Sa’adah, 43, from Karawang, West Java, said she supported the administration’s plan and hoped that the site would be better organized.

“I can visit this place with my family four times a year to pray and recite the Quran. It will be nice if the administration pays attention to it,” Sa’adah said.

Located around Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta, the plan requires an agreement between state port operator Pelindo II and the Mbah Priok foundation.

A dispute between Pelindo II and the heirs of Mbah Priok began in 1997, when the heirs voiced concerns that the expansion of the port would mean that the 20 square meter site memorializing Islamic figure Mbah Priok and a nearby 300 square meter plot of land would be demolished.

The memorial and the land are located within Pelindo II's 145-hectare plot of land in Koja.

The residents who opposed the eviction plan said it would be an insult to Muslims who consider Mbah Priok a sacred figure.

Mbah Priok was born in Palembang, South Sumatra, with the name Al Imam Arif Billah Hasan bin Muhammad Al Haddad in 1727. He became an ulema and traveled to Jakarta with a scholar in 1756 to spread the religion of Islam. Serious difficulties plagued their journey to Jakarta and local folklore has it that Dutch soldiers shot at them with cannonballs. However, the Dutch scholars died when a strong wave overcame their ship and left it stranded on an unnamed shore.

The scholar is venerated for his hard struggle to disseminate the religion of Islam. Later, local people named the shore Tanjung Priok after the scholar's nickname.

In early 2010, the heirs of Mbah Priok were alerted to a plan by Pelindo II to apply an international maritime standard, called International Ship and Port Facility Security, at the port. This standard would require the entire port area to be free from public activities.

On April 14, 2010, the suspicion triggered a clash between the supporters of Mbah Priok's heirs and the police and Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) personnel who attempted to evict individuals from illegal buildings on the memorial site.

The clash resulted in injuries to three Satpol PP personnel and 228 people. Six police buses, four trucks, four agency vehicles and a water cannon were severely damaged and burned during the clash.

Separately, city secretary Saefullah said a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two related parties must be cleared in advance.

“If the MoU is signed, we plan to make the site a religious attraction. There will be a mosque and also a culinary attraction,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pelindo II director Riri Syeried Jetta said earlier the company would support the administration’s decision if there were not any land issues obstructing the plan.

Jakarta Land Agency head Muhammad Najib Taufik promised he would find a solution to the land dispute.

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