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Revitalization, filmmaking breathe new life into Onrust
Revitalization and film shooting are some of the efforts to put Onrust Island in Thousand Islands regency in the spotlight to attract tourists
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span>Revitalization and film shooting are some of the efforts to put Onrust Island in Thousand Islands regency in the spotlight to attract tourists.
City planners are hoping to draw more visitors to the uninhabited island by revitalizing long-abandoned buildings, and a group of filmmakers has been shooting a movie there to promote the island.
In a discussion at the Maritime Museum on Tuesday, the museum’s implementation unit head, Agus Ariyanto, said the city had been working to preserve remnants of the colonial era.
The discussion, which was attended by high-school students, was held to commemorate National Museum Day, which falls on Oct. 12 every year.
“We’re now revamping a doctors’ boarding house there. The building is no longer used. The [entire] island is [deserted]. But we should still work hard to preserve what’s left from history and also to ensure safety for visitors,” he said.
According to a report published by Jakarta-based community Ngojak titled Onrust: Pulau Kecil dengan Sejarah Besar (Onrust: Tiny Island with Huge History), the island’s history dates back to the 17th century. Onrust means “restless” in Dutch.
The island was used as the Dutch East India Company’s (VOC) shipyard in 1613. A fortress and some housings, including a Dutch graveyard, were built throughout their occupation.
In the early 20th century, the place was used as a quarantine for people with transmittable diseases like tuberculosis. It also served once as a transit place for Indonesian Muslims departing for the haj.
The island of some 7.5 hectares was inaugurated as a historical site by then-Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin in 1972.
Onrust is one of four islands in the regency that have been acknowledged as cultural heritage sites, as stated in Gubernatorial Decree No. 2209/2015. The other three are Kelor, Cipir and the Bidadari Islands.
The management of Bidadari Island was taken over by private company PT Seabreeze Indonesia in 1970s, leaving the city with three cultural heritage islands to manage.
In 2015, the government submitted a proposal to UNESCO for Kota Tua, the old town area of Jakarta, and the four islands to earn World Heritage status. However, the proposal was deemed incomplete and the government filed another proposal in 2018.
Agus, however, could not mention the budget for the renovation projects. He instead went on to say that the authority planned to limit public access to Onrust Island.
“The other plan contradicts the current mission: to close the island to the public and only available for research purposes. Both are aimed at protecting the remains and preserving history. We’re still discussing it,” he said.
A movie was shot on the island upon the initiative of an NGO named Adventure Documentary Festival (ADF) and produced by state-owned production house Balai Pustaka.
ADF head Astryd Diana Savitri said the movie was an adaptation of a novel titled Sarcophagus Onrust that she herself authored.
“It’s a thriller drama with a touch of history in the plotline, taking the 17th century and current situation as the set,” Astryd told The Jakarta Post.
“I have included three historical events of Onrust Island, namely an epidemic that caused suffering among the inhabitants, the VOC treasures and the slave shipment to Onrust during the colonial era.”
The movie was directed by Irham Acho Bachtiar who is known for his movies Lost in Papua, Epen Cupen The Movie and Noble Hearts: Mentari di Ufuk Timur (Noble Hearts: Sun of the Eastern Horizon).
Some well-known actors and actresses star the movie, such as Donny Damara, Mathias Muchus, Eksanti, Dewi Rezer and Ray Sahetapy. There are also stars of the younger generation, like soap-opera star Allif Ali and newcomer Yoriko Angeline.
The movie is part of ADF’s bigger project called Secret Files of Indonesia (SEFI).
Under the SEFI project, ADF aims to establish a mobile app, also named SEFI, through which people can learn and share knowledge about history, be it legend, myth or facts that had been well-recorded.
According to Astryd, SEFI is a user-generated-content platform, which implies that besides accessing information, the user can also contribute by sending articles to SEFI.
“Indonesia is rich of history, but we also have a lot of myths and legends that overshadow the facts. The SEFI app is aimed at generating more stories about it and growing a reading habit among users,” she said.
The Education and Culture Ministry’s director of cultural heritage and museum preservation, Fitra Arda, was also speaking at the discussion. He encouraged the students to participate in more events that aim to preserve history, be it at museums cultural heritage sites.
“We need young people like you to pass on all these. You are the next generation that will keep this memory alive within our civilization,” he told the audience.
“Consider going to the museum [or a cultural heritage site] as a recreational activity instead of visiting an old and boring place. As you explore the place to take pictures, learn the story to reflect what happened in that exact same place in the past,” he added.
