Monas-tery

Monas-tery

Today is Friday, so let's talk about something less heavy: visiting Monas (Monumen Nasional). *yawn* What could be more boring than visiting Sukarno's National Monument?

Every local I've talked to in Jakarta have only visited the place as a pupil during schooldays. They have never stepped foot there since then. Can't blame them: I myself have not gone to our very own Tugu Peringatan Negara or Muzium Negara since I was a Darjah Satu (Standard One) pupil. We prefer to dodge pigeon droppings in foreign countries so that we can snap photos beside some obscure bronze statue.

Well, since I can still be considered a tourist in Jakarta, I did make the effort to visit Monas. I was a bit curious about this gigantic phallic symbol--an obelisk construction with a gold-tipped top shaped like a flame--which looms over Jakarta city like a sentinel, this so-called Last Erection of Sukarno.

It was indeed Sukarno's last erection--he initiated its construction in 1961 but was slowly removed from power after The Year of Living Dangerously by Suharto. Monas was only officially opened in the 70s during's Suharto's tenure.

My curiosity was also stirred by Pramoedya Ananta Toer's short story collection, Tales from DJakarta, set mostly in the 1940s and 50s. In one of the stories, "News from Kebajoran", an aging prostitute plies her trade in the same area (opposite the Merdeka palace), but it was called Fromberg Park.

None of my Indonesian friends have heard of Fromberg Park before. So I embarked on some research about Jakarta city in the 40s and 50s. I visited the National Library located on Jalan Salemba Raya, to look at old maps of Jakarta and managed to pinpoint the exact location of Fromberg Park--northeast of Medan Merdeka, the vast square where Monas is located.

I'm sure many of the schoolchildren who make field trips to Monas will have to go back and write an essay about their visit as homework: Berkunjung ke Monas. (Will they write about the prostitutes that still loiter around the area at night?)

I did an almost similar thing. I wrote about some of the interesting things I found out about Merdeka Square and other places in old Jakarta in a 3,000 word article for Jakarta Kini, published this month (can't provide links to it, as the publication is not available online). It is my personal tribute to both Pramoedya and Jakarta city.

The Megawati administration has tried to spruce up the Monas area by fencing up the square. This probably kept out the hawkers and asongans but not the prostitutes. And now they tried to turn the pavement surrounding the area into a "Walk of Fame", with foot imprints of prominent Indonesian figures embedded on its walkway tiles.

I saw President Megawati's foot imprints there on the walkway--the same walkway where during Pramoedya's time, prostitutes used to pace, offering their services for two-and-half rupiah. In many ways Jakarta hasn't changed much since those days.

And Monas, gloriously illuminated at night, stands Viagra-erect above it all--a voyeuristic witness to the sins and transgressions of this fascinating city.