“We are all aware that Souw Beng Kong’s grave is nearby. In fact, it is renowned. But we never learn who the person was and what he did in the past,” said North Jakarta resident Herniawati, who is a street vendor on Jl. Pangeran Jayakarta.

The 26-year-old woman’s expression reflects the gradually fading story of one of the most important figures in the early rise of the capital, without whose service, a historian agrees, there would have been no Batavia, the old name of Jakarta.

The grave of the first Chinese-Indonesian community leader in Batavia, with the title kapitan (captain), Souw Beng Kong (1580-1644) is located in a narrow alley off Gang Taruna, on the busy street of Jl. Pangeran Jayakarta, not far from the hectic Mangga Dua shopping district.

In the past, many residents used to wash dishes around the tomb area and litter there, and it was often flooded with dirty water when it rained, according to local residents. Fortunately, the graveyard area was then purchased by the Beng Kong Foundation in the early 2000s and restoration work followed.  

The meter-wide alley is rather difficult to find among the crush of mushrooming shop-houses along the business street, if visitors do not spot a signpost on the road.

After getting through the residents who throng the waysides, visitors will find the grave squeezed in the middle of some small houses.

When The Jakarta Post visited the site recently, a trellis fence that encircles the grave was being used as a clothesline.

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