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.
It’s the end of the road for Sriwedari amusement park
The legendary amusement park THR Sriwedari in Surakarta, Central Java, is seen in this photo taken on Tuesday
Change Size
T
span class="inline inline-center">The legendary amusement park THR Sriwedari in Surakarta, Central Java, is seen in this photo taken on Tuesday. The city administration begins to dismantle the iconic park later on Tuesday.(JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi)
After more than 30 years, the legendary amusement park THR Sriwedari in Surakarta, Central Java, met its demise on Tuesday.
That day, the iconic “people’s amusement park” was dismantled by the city administration, which has decided to terminate its contract with the park’s operator.
“We will rearrange Sriwedari by building a Wayang Orang Sriwedari building while on the former site of the THR a grand mosque will be built,” Surakarta Mayor FX Hadi “Rudy” Rudyatmo said said on Tuesday.
He said the operator had been given a deadline until December this year to completely dismantled the park’s facility.
According to the plan, he said, a number of public facilities would be built on the site.
Apart from building wayang orang and the mosque, the administration will also renovate the Segara river and integrate it into the city’s drainage system.
THR Sriwedari had long been a popular tourism site in the city.
For over 30 years it had functioned not only as a recreation and entertainment venue, but also a place for hanging out and also the birthplace of a Koes Plus music fan community called Koes Plus mania.
Twice a week, different music groups performed at the THR, playing the music created by the legendary band Koes Plus.
A number of local dangdut music groups had also been born at the facility.
Among them include OM Siera and Sagita, along with their renowned lead vocalists such as Via Vallen, Eny Sagita and Nella Kharisma.
As the facility has now been dismantled, both the musicians and their audience will now have to look for a new place for them to gather and rehearse.
“The management is still looking for one,” THR Sriwedari operational manager Iwan Siswanto said.
He said he would need about two months to move all the assets to the new place. The city administration gave them until early December to leave the place.
“We have to be obedient. We start dismantling now,” Iwan said, adding that apart from disassembling the playing ground facilities the management also had to disassemble the music stage.
Chairman of the Koes Plus Fans Club (KPFC) Surakarta, Dandung, said his community had started gathering at THR Sriwedari since 16 years ago.
He said many music groups playing Koes Plus songs had been born out of the community.
“They were born on the THR Sriwedari stage. They were the audience as well as the entertainers,” said Dandung, expressing sadness over the disassembling of THR Sriwedari.
