Unlike other residences, many of which are old and rundown, the Purwakarta Regent official residence is integrated with a series of gardens and the office of the regional secretary, all of which are located inside a complex on Jalan Gandanegara No. 25 in Purwakarta.

People are free to access the residential complex; they can enter via the east gate or the west gate near Bang Yusuf Grand Masjid. Both entrances are doorless gates (gapura, from Sanskrit) and are named Gapura Indung Karahayuan, having the design like those found in each of Purwakarta Regency’s border areas with its neighboring regencies or regions.

Maya Datar Garden, Pancawarna Garden and Taman Pesanggrahan Padjadjaran (previously known as Kian Santang Square) are accessible through both gapura. On Saturdays and Sundays, the special gate leading to Pesanggrahan Padjadjaran Garden is open to the public.

The regent’s official residence comprises two buildings. The main building where the regent receives guests consists of Bale Campernik, various rooms, a dining room, a kitchen and the office of the regency’s SMS center. The other building is smaller, and it is where the regent resides. It comprises a bedroom, bathroom and guest room. The guest room has no chairs so that any discussion with the staff or the people who come to talk about issues in the regency is done by sitting in a circle on the floor.

The empty chambers in the official residence house a collection of wayang golek (traditional puppets), representing all popular mythical wayang characters. On the walls, which are adorned with black-and-white wallpaper, various paintings and wall mounts of more mythological Pandawa family wayang characters are on display.

Dedi, at the official residence on March 30, said in the last two years, he and his administration had been taking steps to improve the details of each pillar within the complex, including by adding Maung Siliwangi (Siliwangi tiger) carved ornaments.

“We’ve been working on the improvements in the last two years. I have had wallpapers added as well as some paintings and a wayang golek collection,” he said.

The improvement was to present the region with an official residence that the public can feel close to, and it is to leave a comfortable residence for the next person working as the regent.

“For the last two years, we’ve been working on presenting a comfortable home that the public can easily access with minimum protocols so that the people can easily have an audience with their regent. I think that’s good. This is also to make my successor more comfortable. Yet, the private building at the back has stayed the same. There aren’t even any chairs, so everyone sits on the floor,” he said.

Dedi acknowledged that the work required a large amount of money. He said an official residence is a state asset that no individual can claim.

“The official residence belongs to the state. It belongs to the people. Everyone can come freely to take photos, for example. It’s necessary that the residence has strong aesthetics,” he said.

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