TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Public parks double as community centers
One cloudy Saturday at the Taman Kenanga child-friendly public space (RPTRA) in Cideng, Central Jakarta, 4-year-old Bagas played with his preschool friends while his father lounged on a bench, waiting for his own friends to arrive
Change Size
O
ne cloudy Saturday at the Taman Kenanga child-friendly public space (RPTRA) in Cideng, Central Jakarta, 4-year-old Bagas played with his preschool friends while his father lounged on a bench, waiting for his own friends to arrive.
“I work in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta. Every day after returning from work in the late afternoon, I bring my son here to play, and at the same time, I can also get rid of my fatigue here and hang out with my neighbors,” said Bagas’ father, Dwi Mayda, 41.
For Dwi and other parents in Cideng, the scenic RPTRA Taman Kenanga serves as an open play area for their growing children as well as a public park, a sports field, a cultural venue and a location for general socializing.
While the city struggles to fulfill the demand for public spaces amid the land shortage, Jakartans of all ages across its many subdistricts have been using their local RPTRAs for all kinds of activities.
RPTRA Taman Kenanga manager Handi Maulana said the park offered a suitable spot for the elderly in Cideng, many of whom regularly joined aerobics or dance classes each morning to keep fit.
“On weekends, there are also gymnastics, yoga and aerobics classes for women,” he said. “The Central Jakarta Tourism and Culture Agency regularly organizes qasidah [Islamic pop music] workshop for them, too.”
Handi added that the qasidah workshop was held at the 20-square-meter multipurpose room next to the library at the RPTRA. The group, whose members were all female residents of Cideng, held a performance there every three months to show the results of their training.
RPTRA Taman Kenanga’s multipurpose room also hosted gatherings and other activities of civil organizations from outside Cideng, including several seminars for women and children since it opened in 2015, he said.
Handi said that earlier this year, the White Ribbon Alliance — a non-govenmental international coalition that works to reduce maternal and infant mortality, locally called Aliansi Pita Putih Indonesia — held a self-care discussion on maternal and newborn health.
“Pregnant women and members of the Cideng Family Welfare Movement [PKK] had nothing but appreciation for receiving such critical information on reproductive health, childbirth problems, child marriage prevention and other [topics],” Handi recalled.
“Later this month, the Kartika Soekarno Foundation will hold a mini concert here at RPTRA Taman Kenanga, where dozens of preschool students from Cideng will perform a cultural show,” he added.
Taman Kenanga is a key RPTRA in Jakarta, one of only five public facilities that the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry certified as an official child-friendly space (RBRA) in October.
Certified RPTRAs are considered cozy and family-friendly, offering a variety of safe recreational equipment aside from vast areas free of dangerous objects, rocky terrain and cigarette smoke.
While some RPTRAs are managed and maintained well, however, others still struggle with regular maintenance.
The mini amphitheater at the RPTRA Melati Duri Pulo in Central Jakarta, for example, is starting to show cracks in its concrete floor. In addition, most of the bulbs in the lighting poles around the play area have burned out but have not been replaced. Only a single portable light has been installed on one of the poles to light any evening activities that are held there.
“We have requested maintenance funds to the relevant agencies, but have not received any response,” said Andy Setiady, the manager of RPTRA Melati Duri Pulo. “Even so, the RPTRA is in good use, with many residents of all ages coming for their activities.”
Andy said that the RPTRA was also used as a sports and exercise venue for children’s soccer games and regular aerobics and tai chi classes for a group of regular seniors, even daily basketball games in the morning.
“Most importantly, we have a dedicated information and consultation center for families,” said Andy.
The center provided counseling services on issues from problems at school to domestic violence, with officers from the Family Welfare Consultation Institute of the Jakarta Social Agency at hand every Wednesday. Local PKK members and doctors often assisted in the family counseling sessions, he added.
RPTRA Melati Duri Pulo was also home to an angklung group of elderly women who came to learn to play and preserve the traditional suspended xylophone made of bamboo.
The group found it difficult locate a practice space until they discovered the small multipurpose room at Melati Duri Pulo that held three angklung sets that were donated by the Jakarta Tourism Agency.
Christin Ristanto, 63, the youngest member of the angklung group, said they felt fortunate at being provided with the facility that helped the individual members reach their personal goals.
“Besides helping us keep in touch with friends, this activity helps us prevent the loss of our mental faculties and even allows us to gain additional knowledge in our latter years. It is important for those of us who don’t work anymore,” she said.
By 2018, the Jakarta administration had established 290 child-friendly spaces in the three years since the RPTRA program was initiated by then-governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama in 2015. In comparison, the capital has 267 subdistricts.
However, the 290 RPTRAs are not spread evenly across the subdistricts, with some subdistricts having more than one RPTRA and others having none, like Gambir subdistrict near Cideng.
The newly appointed head of the Jakarta Housing and Settlement Areas Agency, Kelik Indriyanto, has set a goal to establish 16 additional RPTRAs.
However, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan recently announced that he had halted the further development of RPTRAs. Instead, he revealed a plan to build urban gardens called Taman Maju Bersama (Progressing Together Park) to meet the target of establishing green open spaces that covered 30 percent of the city’s area.
Anies has an ambitious plan to develop 53 urban gardens by December and 200 urban gardens by 2022. The plan is intended as a measure to control the poor air quality in the capital.
