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akarta is home to numerous centuries-old viharas that, despite their age and historical value, have yet to receive cultural heritage status from the city administration.

None of the city’s viharas appear on the list of 216 cultural heritage objects created by the Jakarta administration in Gubernatorial Decree No. 475 of 1993. Furthermore, no viharas are among an additional six objects of cultural heritage acknowledged by the city administration since 2015.

However, change may be afoot, with the city administration planning to name at least nine old viharas in West and North Jakarta objects of cultural heritage as part of its plan to preserve around 400 more historical buildings in all of the capital’s five municipalities and one regency.

The list includes the 368-year-old Vihara Dharma Bhakti in Glodok, West Jakarta, as the oldest of these Buddhist temples; Vihara Dharma Jaya and Vihara Tanda Bakti also in Glodok; Vihara Lallitavistara in Cilincing; and Vihara Bahtera in Ancol, North Jakarta.

Those buildings were built between the 17th and 20th century. Candrian Attahiyat, a member of an expert council formed by the city administration called the Jakarta heritage conservation team (TACB), said the administration did not use to consider viharas cultural heritage.

“In 1993, some viharas were recommended to be listed as objects of cultural heritage. However, political conditions at the time saw viharas excluded from the list,” Candrian told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Candrian was referring to anti-Chinese sentiment during the New Order regime that reached a peak in the 1998 riots. Senior archeologist Mundardjito, who heads the TACB, added that viharas may not have been considered cultural heritage in the past because of issues related to the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and communist movements.

With rising concern over the sustainability of old buildings, eight experts on the TACB inaugurated by then-Jakarta governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat last August aim to examine some 200 historical buildings, including viharas, in the city this year.

Therefore, by the end of their term in 2020, more than 400 new objects recommended by residents and the team could be examined and declared cultural heritage objects, said Andi Ahdian, a historian on the TACB.

The safety of the buildings has become a matter of concern. In 2015, a fire blazed through Dhama Bhakti, causing severe damage to the vihara.

Dharma Bhakti Foundation head Tan Adi Pranata said renovation work on the vihara had yet to be completed.

“We are still facing difficulties in procuring some materials for the vihara, including special types of wood,” he said on Wednesday.

Even though the vihara has been deemed a potential object of cultural heritage, meaning it shall be preserved until obtaining the official status, Tan said the congregation had renovated the building without city support.

Andi said, should the old buildings fulfill all criteria set out in Law No. 11/2010 on cultural heritage, the TACB would issue recommendations to the governor for the objects to receive cultural heritage status. By law, a site must be at least 50 years old to be conserved as cultural heritage, and it must be of historical and cultural significance.

University of Indonesia Chinese culture expert Agni Malagina said cultural heritage status was crucial for the city’s viharas.

“There will be formal written documentation about viharas, which could straighten out any distortion from oral history.”