Tuning up: Students prepare to play a song using angklung, the traditional Sundanese instrument made from bamboo, during the Semarak Menteng (Festive Menteng) event at Menteng Park on Sunday.
"Menteng has changed," says resident Bandji Asaari, 64.
"It used to be Menteng. Now, it is Benteng *a fort*."
Bandji's wordplay well demonstrates the change taking place in the one of the country's first modern city parks, which was designed by architect P. A. J. Moojen during the Dutch colonial era in 1910.
Homes in the most expensive area in the city are now surrounded by high walls and gates trammeling visible greenery and beautiful architecture.
Some homes have even reportedly become commercial premises.
The Menteng Park, where hundreds of residents had the two-day festival, Semarak Menteng (Festive Menteng), was originally a soccer field, known by the Dutch name Voetbalbond Indische Omstreken, or Viosveld.
Since 2006, it has been transformed into an exhibition hall and park equipped with futsal and basketball courts as well as a multi-storey carpark thanks to a Rp 5.5-billion makeover by the city administration.
Despite all the changes, it remains a place that enjoys much privileges as it contains top official residences and ambassadors' residences.
Former vice president Jusuf Kalla, a Menteng resident, acknowledged the area's benefits.
"A park like that in Menteng should be built in Tanjung Priok *in North Jakarta*. Clean water should be accessible for those along the Ciliwung riverbank, not only the residents of Menteng."
Every part of Jakarta could be the city's sweetheart. Just like Menteng.
- Photos by JP/Wendra Ajistyatama
Text by Damar Harsanto
