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undreds of historical photos, paintings, personal attire, movie posters, cassette tapes and other memorabilia that belonged to the late multi-talented Betawi icon, Benyamin Sueb fill a 100-square-meter room.

The collection is in Benyamin Sueb Park, also known as the Betawi Cultural Center. It is in one of the buildings in a compound built in 1621 that once served as headquarters of Jatinegara 0505 Military District Command, located right in front of Jatinegara Station in East Jakarta.

The park, which also serves as a museum, was inaugurated on Saturday by Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, who expressed his satisfaction over being able to make good on one of his campaign promises.

“Thank God I’ve been able to keep the promise to create Benyamin Sueb Park today,” he said on Saturday at the inauguration ceremony.

“I look forward to seeing some young Benyamin Suebs being born in this place. I also hope that Benyamin’s children will inherit their father’s fighting spirit [to preserve Betawi cultures],” he said.

During the gubernatorial election campaign last year, Anies and his running mate Sandiaga Uno promised to create Benyamin Sueb Park in an appeal to the Betawi people — the native people of Jakarta.

One of Benyamin’s children who attended the inauguration ceremony, Beni Pandawa, said the family had handed over around 300 of Benyamin’s personal belongings to the city administration to be displayed in the
museum.

Benyamin had nine children from two wives. Their names all start with the letter “B”. Aside from Beni, they are the late Beib Habbani, Bob Benito, Biem Triani, Beno Rahmat, Bayi Nurhayati, Billy Sabila, Bianca Belladina and Belinda Sahadati Amri.

According to Beni, one of the most memorable and valuable objects was his father’s favorite watch, which bears the signature of former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

“He got it in Russia around 1994,” he said.

“The city asked us to submit the objects along with their estimated worth in rupiah. But some objects are priceless, such as my dad’s Citra [Indonesian Film Festival] awards that symbolize his achievements as an artist,” he explained.

Beni went on to say that the family was ready to give up more of Benyamin’s private artifacts should the museum and visitors want them.

“We trust the city to handle my dad’s belongings. Before this, they used to be scattered in many places and not taken care of. But now, we can just drop by and see him here whenever we miss him,” he added, laughng.

East Jakarta Tourism and Culture Agency head Iwan Henry Wardhana said his agency would operate Benyamin Sueb Park as well as the museum in it. The agency plans to set up a management unit (UPK) for the area.

“The buildings are part of the city’s cultural heritage. They need special treatment and attention from experts,” he said.

Although Benyamin Sueb Park had just been inaugurated by Governor Anies, Iwan said that there were still many things to be done to better display the collections and arrangements until the park and the museum could operate optimally.

“Everyone will be able to use the area, especially for art and cultural activities. The name is indeed the ‘Betawi Culture Center’, but we hope to welcome people or communities from other ethnicities too,” he said.