PEOPLE'S PALACE: The public visit the Merdeka Palace on Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara, Central Jakarta, for a tour. Since the palace was opened to the public on May 24, enthusiastic visitors have been queuing up to tour the palace. (JP/P.J. Leo)

Welcome to the Presidential Palace -- the people's palace. That is the greeting that visitors receive from First Lady Ani Bambang Yudhoyono in a 12-minute video before stepping into the palace compound.

Since May 24, the Presidential Palace on Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara, Central Jakarta, has been open free-of-charge to the public. Tours run every Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except when it is raining or when the President holds activities at the palace.

In its second week, people from Jakarta and across the archipelago are showing great enthusiasm about getting a closer peep into the palace. The palace has so far recorded an average of 2,000 visitors each day.

To get inside the palace, visitors have to wait about two hours before the main gate opens. Once inside the compound, they have to wait another two hours before starting with a quick bus tour along the State Secretary office complex heading to the 6.8-hectare palace compound.

Finally, visitors must exchange their ID cards for a presidential pass. The security measures taken are two metal detector examinations, one before entering the bus and another before entering the palace complex.

On the tour bus, a guide gives visitors information about the palace. The palace has deployed 18 female officers from the Indonesian Military and the National Police as guides.

After all the procedures, which take about an hour, visitors can finally enjoy the palace before their eyes.

Before entering the palace, visitors often have their photos taken by the palace photographer on the steps. Visitors can get a copy of the photo for Rp 15,000 (US$1.60).

Next up is the audio visual recording of the First Lady's greeting.

The tour itself lasts less than 30 minutes, including a walk around the palace complex and inside Merdeka Palace, one of the two palaces in the compound.

The two Presidential Palaces in Jakarta are among six state palaces across Indonesia. The other four are in Cipanas, Bogor, Yogyakarta and Bali.

The palace compound in Jakarta was an elite housing complex during the Dutch colonial period. The two palaces are the 3,375-square-meter State Palace, built between 1796 and 1804, and the 2,400-square-meter Merdeka Palace, built between 1873 and 1879.

"The State Palace, which is now the home of the President, was formerly the property of a very rich Dutch businessman, J.A. van Braam," said the tour guide, Ni Ketut Sri Widiyani, on Saturday.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, First Lady Ani and their second son live in the State Palace, which is not included in the tour, except for a glimpse of the facade.

The tour inside Merdeka Palace is also limited to a certain number of rooms.

Merdeka Palace has been home to Indonesia's first president Sukarno and fourth president Abdurrahman Wahid.

Sukarno moved to Merdeka Palace the day after the Dutch recognized the sovereignty of the country, which was then named the United States of Indonesia (RIS), on Dec. 27, 1949.

The name Merdeka Palace was given by Sukarno because on the day RIS was declared sovereign, people shouted "merdeka" (freedom) near the palace. It used to be called Gambir Palace.

Inside Merdeka Palace, visitors are guided through the rooms where the President often holds meetings with honorable foreign guests and his ministers. The tour includes the credential room, the ministers' waiting room, the Jepara room, the First Lady's guest room as well as the reception room.

Several private rooms used during Sukarno's presidency are not open to the public. Sukarno's old bedroom is now where the original national flag, the Sang Saka Merah Putih, remains.

The flag has not been hoisted since 1998 because of its frail condition.

In his old bedroom, there are two Czechoslovakian chandeliers weighing 500 kilograms, a Persian rug, a Balinese wood carving depicting part of Ramayana story and Sukarno's painting collections.

"Those paintings were taken from the palace in Yogyakarta just two days before this public tour began. There are still many more of Sukarno's painting collections at the other four palaces in the archipelago," Ni Ketut said.

During the tour, Ni Ketut had to repeatedly tell visitors not to touch the furniture.

After the brief tour of Merdeka Palace, Ni Ketut took the visitors to the garden to show several of Sukarno's bronze nude sculptures and a collection of cactuses, which was given to Tien Soeharto, the wife of former president Soeharto, by the Queen of Monaco.

Ni Ketut pointed to a building, which is now President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's office. "This building was Sukarno's painting studio and the place where he wrote his speeches. During Soeharto's era, the building turned into a museum, named Puri Bhakti Renatama, which refers to the dedication of the First Lady to the mother land."

She also showed the visitors a gazebo, which was used to hold garden parties during the Dutch era.

"Ibu Megawati, daughter of Sukarno, and the palace staff's children used to have homeschooling in this gazebo. Now, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono uses it to do interviews with journalists," she said.

Three-century-old banyan trees still stand tall in the cool garden. "These banyan trees are called Ki Hujan. They make the palace complex cool and breezy," she said.

The visitors passed the State Palace. Ni Ketut said, "It used to be a two-story mansion. After an earthquake in 1848, the mansion was renovated to a one-story home."

During the walk in the palace garden, visitors saw several other buildings, like the Baiturrahim Mosque and the six-story Wisma Negara (State House), both constructed during Sukarno's presidency. The State House used to serve as an accommodation for state guests.

The visitors asked the guide plenty of questions, but they did not necessarily get any answers.

A visitor, Tia Maria, 24, tried to reclaim her ID card after the tour, which proved to be a difficult task for the staff.

She said "The administration for visitors is not well-organized yet, but that's forgivable since this is a new event for these officers.

"Overall, I am grateful to have had the chance to get a glimpse of the palace, but I hope more time is given for the tour and more rooms are opened in the future," she said.

Ni Ketut said the time is limited due to the high number of visitors waiting their turn.

She said each of the tour guides could lead four or five groups a day. "We don't even have time for lunch. Only a quick sip of water and we continue to the next group of visitors," Ni Ketut said.

"Next group, please," she said.

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