JP/ J. Adiguna
Dian Kuswandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
| Fri, 12/04/2009 1:32 PM | Life
They might look like little more than old bricks and ruins, but these fortifications are the silent witnesses to the country’s centuries-old journey to independence.
Long forgotten and neglected, the forts have lost their attraction today as many of us seem to regard them merely as old constructions with little function.
Perhaps that’s true — that they can’t really function anymore — but it’s the stories embedded within their bricks that actually make them precious.
Among the stories are ones that take us back to the Java and Sumatra of 300 years ago, where fortifications were at the heart of trade conflicts and territorial fights.
These periods saw how the functions of most fortifications shifted from just trading posts equipped with storehouses, offices and residences, into bases of defense and territorial expansion.
The shift in functionality was proof of the growing power of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), which maintained strategic posts in Java and Sumatra.Urgently seeking to secure its assets, expand its territory and maintain its domination, the VOC built more fortifications, including in Bandung, West Java, in the wake of the First World War. All have a significant place in history for Indonesians, as the fortifications are the unspoken witnesses of their struggles against the Dutch in gaining independence. “We can actually learn a lot about our history from the fortifications,” says Nadia Purwestri, research coordinator for the Center for Architecture Documentation (PDA).“[However] we never realized this because we weren’t aware of their existence in the first place.”
| Fri, 12/04/2009 1:32 PM | Life
They might look like little more than old bricks and ruins, but these fortifications are the silent witnesses to the country’s centuries-old journey to independence.
Long forgotten and neglected, the forts have lost their attraction today as many of us seem to regard them merely as old constructions with little function.
Perhaps that’s true — that they can’t really function anymore — but it’s the stories embedded within their bricks that actually make them precious.
Among the stories are ones that take us back to the Java and Sumatra of 300 years ago, where fortifications were at the heart of trade conflicts and territorial fights.
These periods saw how the functions of most fortifications shifted from just trading posts equipped with storehouses, offices and residences, into bases of defense and territorial expansion.
The shift in functionality was proof of the growing power of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), which maintained strategic posts in Java and Sumatra.Urgently seeking to secure its assets, expand its territory and maintain its domination, the VOC built more fortifications, including in Bandung, West Java, in the wake of the First World War. All have a significant place in history for Indonesians, as the fortifications are the unspoken witnesses of their struggles against the Dutch in gaining independence. “We can actually learn a lot about our history from the fortifications,” says Nadia Purwestri, research coordinator for the Center for Architecture Documentation (PDA).“[However] we never realized this because we weren’t aware of their existence in the first place.”