The time has come for Jakartans to bid farewell to Lebak Bulus Stadium, the historical venue of the city'€™s soccer team Persija Jakarta, as its demolition kicked off on Aug. 27 to make way for the development of an MRT train maintenance depot.

Persija'€™s supporters, known as Jakmania, found that it was not easy to say goodbye and see their memorable stadium torn down.

For Richard Achmad Supriyanto, head of the fan club, Lebak Bulus Stadium was more than a soccer venue. It was a home for Jakmania and it played an influential role in the capital'€™s soccer club history.

'€œThere are a lot of memories we cannot possibly forget from Lebak Bulus Stadium, including in 2001 when Persija was named winner of the Indonesian Soccer League,'€ Richard told The Jakarta Post.

In 2001 Persija came out as the national league winner after defeating PSM Makassar at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in the final match. During that season, all of Persija'€™s home matches were played at Lebak Bulus Stadium.

'€œThe stadium is feared by other teams because once they step foot in there, they can hear thunderous chants from thousands of people in our signature orange shirts,'€ Richard continued.

Since moving out of Menteng Stadium in Central Jakarta in 2000, Persija used Lebak Bulus Stadium as its home ground until 2008 when national soccer association officials asked the club to find another stadium due to the lack of capacity.

Since then, Persija has used Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Central Jakarta, which has a capacity of 88,083 people, more than eight times Lebak Bulus'€™ 12,000 seats.

Built in 1987, the stadium was then the home ground for another club in the capital, Pelita Jaya, which later shared it with Persija. Pelita Jaya, now known as Pelita Bandung Raya, moved to Surakarta in Central Java in 2002 and left Persija as the only soccer club using the stadium.

Aside from soccer activities, the stadium also hosted major events including the first concert of Los Angeles-based metal band Metallica in 1993, which prompted riots as hundreds of fans went on a rampage because they could not get inside the stadium. The band came back to Jakarta in 2013 for a peaceful concert at Bung Karno Stadium.

In 1992, the stadium was packed with thousands of fans of Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura and for a major concert of legendary Indonesian singer Iwan Fals a year later.

With the ongoing demolition of the stadium, writing and poems from supporters can be seen on remaining walls among the debris, saying farewell to the field that once was their home. Those words will also disappear as the demolition is completed in preparation for the MRT depot.

The MRT will connect Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta and the depot will also be used as a maintenance and repair area for trains. The depot is set to be able to accommodate 16 trains comprising of six coaches each.

Baharuddin Colak, supervisor of the stadium'€™s demolition project, said the process was expected to be completed in the next three months.

'€œWe expect the stadium will be completely gone in three months, and the MRT depot construction can be kicked off afterwards,'€ Baharuddin said at his temporary office located just beside the rubble of the historic stadium.

According to Baharuddin, Rp 4.2 billion (US$293,307) was paid by his company, CV Triadara Dirantona, to the city administration through the Jakarta Financial and Asset Management Board (BPKAD) when the company won the tender.

'€œIn exchange we get to sell the scrap metal of the stadium. I expect there is 1,000 tons or more of it. I hope we can make a good profit on this,'€ he said.

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