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Exorbitant interments: How Jakarta’s housing crunch extends beyond the grave
Despite their eye-watering prices, private burial grounds provide a solution for the increasing scarcity of plots in Greater Jakarta’s network of densely packed public cemeteries.
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Johanes Randy Prakoso (with umbrella), 33, visits his late father’s grave at San Diego Hills Memorial Park in Karawang, West Java, on April 3, 2024. Randy recounted how fortunate his family was that all the costs of his father's funeral were borne by the company that had employed him. (Courtesy of Johanes R. Prakoso/-)
Once a month, 33-year-old Johanes Randy Prakoso takes his mother on a very personal pilgrimage.
They make the 50-kilometer trip from Johanes’ home in Jatiasih, Bekasi, West Java, to San Diego Hills Memorial Park, one of two upscale private cemeteries nestled among the large industrial estates of Karawang, West Java.
In this ornately sculpted gated garden east of Jakarta they visit the grave of Randy’s late father, Handy Sudarta.
A hardworking professional in the ink industry, Handy succumbed to complications from diabetes in 2017 and was due to be interred at Pondok Ranggon cemetery in Cipayung, East Jakarta, just 9 kilometers from his family home.
However, a close relation of his suggested that he be laid to rest at San Diego Hills instead, and surprisingly, Handy’s office obliged by covering all of the expenses.
The burial plot was Rp 70 million (US$4,388), but the funeral ended up costing Rp 130 million.
For many working-class families living in Greater Jakarta, a megalopolis reeling from soaring housing costs, Rp 200 million for a funeral is not chump change, especially when compared to public cemeteries like Pondok Ranggon, which offer the service free of charge.
