Museum Bank Mandiri

After leaving Newseum Cafe, I made a stop at Monumen Nasional. The intention was to visit Museum Monas and to get a chance to see Jakarta from the observation floor. What I completely forgot, however, that it was Saturday, and school holiday. Hence there was a very long queue in front of the entrance gate that could be seen from a distance. Did not want to lose time, I decided to turn back, got into the car, and headed towards Museum Bank Mandiri at Kota, the Jakarta's Old Town district.

Museums have long been abandoned by many parents and youngsters in big cities like Jakarta. Malls, movies, cafes, games, internet and other products of modern cultures have occupied people's lives. Hence, it was not surprising at all that there were quite a few people when I went around, exploring this huge old Art Deco style building from corner to corner, floor to floor.


Here's a view when I just entered into this very spacious museum.


A very old ledger was displayed at the 1st level.


Many people, and I was among them, grew up with this classical bank saving, TABANAS, Tabungan Nasional (National Savings).


Some of the rare breed of youngsters was seen exploring the museum.


I have no idea what kind of services that the above machine had ever provided to its users.


Different kind of tools and machines were displayed at the hall.


Children playground was also provided at an open space in the middle of the museum.


A kind of installation works depicted Jakarta in the old days.


Souvenirs can be purchased at this shop.


Series of photos were displayed along the wooden walls in one of the museum rooms.


A beautiful and antique painting is one of the museum precious collections.


A huge meeting room where important issues were once discussed and decided.


Beautiful stained glasses were found at the area between the first and the second floor.

Museum Bank Mandiri, the first banking museum in Indonesia, occupied an area of 22,176 square meters in what was known as the Netherlandche Handel Maatschappij NV building during the colonial era. It is located just across Kota Train Station and Kota Bus Station, and about 15 minutes drive from Gambir or Presidential Palace. The museum opens from Tuesday to Sunday, starting at 9 am to 4 pm.

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Newseum Cafe Jakarta

I guess it's a bit rare that a cafe opens before 8 am, but Newseum cafe's door was opened for me that early morning of a Saturday, right after visiting nearby BPPI. It hadn't served customers in the morning, yet, but it's probably not a very bad idea to give it a try, such as once a week, every Saturday. I got a privileged to see the interior of the cafe with the help of the BBPI's staff, as it seems that the owner of the two buildings is the same person. It was my first visit to this cafe, and I did like the atmosphere, albeit no drinks were served for me.


The above picture is the main hall with a medium size low stage at left corner of the room. I like the ambient of the room.


The bright lights that passed through reddish glass wall in the first private room gave stunning lighting effect to the room. Inspiring.


The second private room with a yellowish glass wall gave another awesome atmosphere.


The other side of the wall in the main hall was full of small frames, with many of them were still left empty.


The above picture was apparently an exhibition room, located right before the entrance to the cafe, where Bataviase Nouvelles was conducting an exhibition, displaying collection of photos comparing corners and buildings of the old Jakarta with the current ones.

Newseum Cafe, located at Jl. Veteran 1 No.33 Jakarta, is likely a very nice and cozy place for living up the nights in this crowded city, famous with its notorious macet. It seems that different kind of discussions, exhibitions, and music performances were routinely conducted every month, only that I haven't got a chance to spend a single night there, at the place that one of my friends said was once used by Westerling to have kongkow2 with his friends.

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Saturday Morning at BPPI

The plan was to visit Monas Museum, but it was still too early when I passed Merdeka square. It was an article in the Jakarta Post at the same day that finally brought me to Jl. Veteran 1, and landed at BPPI House, building number 27. I was lucky as the door was opened already, and I was greeted by a young man who was a bit surprised to get such an early visitor. BPPI is an acronym of Badan Pelestarian Pusaka Indonesia or Indonesian Heritage Trust.

Its website says that The Indonesian Heritage Trust is a civil society organization aiming at strengthening and assisting heritage conservation in Indonesia. It further explains that Indonesia is very rich and diverse in culture, with 700 ethnic groups, each with its language, local wisdom and tradition to preserve.

Its more than 17,000 islands are homes of thousands unique flora, fauna and natural resources. BPPI is concerned since a lot of the invaluable natural and cultural heritage are lost, damaged, or endangered, due to ignorance, incapacity, or mismanagement, and it works with various relevant institutions to safeguard the heritage.


There was an exhibition titled "Heritage Products Aftermath Disaster”, held on 29 May - 29 June 2009. According to the staff, different works and photos are on display every month.


The room is rather small to house such a big idea.


A traditional shirt and a bangle used to perform the famous Fahombo Batu or Loncat Batu (Stone Jumping) from Nias Island were displayed. The unique tradition can only be found at Nias Selatan (South Nias), performed by men only. The stones are piled up until 2 meters high and 40 cm thick.


The beauty of human being is that there are always different interests and concerns among them. There are those who want to preserve hundred years old of cultures and traditions, and there are those who spend most of their energies to build and create cultures and traditions of today and tomorrow. Both causes are noble and deserve to get support and appreciation.

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Jembatan Barelang

I had a few hours of free time before flying Garuda, back to Jakarta, after attending a team gathering at a hotel in Batam, several months ago. After dropping off a friend who took an earlier flight at Hang Nadim airport, an acquaintance of another friend took us to Jembatan Barelang, an icon of Batam Island. The bridge connects the islands of Batam, Remang and Galang, and also known as Jembatan Habibie, as an acknowledgement to the person who gave birth on it.

Batam’s roads were well maintained and there were plenty of open land area along the way to Barelang Bridge. Batam was developed under Soeharto and Habibie era to take benefit of its strategic location which is quite near to Malaka Strait and just about 20 km from Singapore's south coast.


The view from Jembatan Barelang was awesome, that made me stood still enjoying the scenery for quite sometime even though strong winds continuously bothered me. I am no sailor, who sees winds as their close relatives. The clear water, however, was so tempting.


Fishing from the bridge looked like a challenging activity. It surely needs a very long and strong string for the bait to reach its destination, while it's tough for the person to see clearly of what's happening with the hook down there.


Jembatan Barelang is actually a chain of 6 various types of bridges with total length of 2 kilometers and distance from the first bridge to the last one of about 50 km. The above cable-stayed bridge, named Tengku Fisabilillah Bridge, is the most popular one, connecting Batam and Tonton Island.


A ship was seen passing by. Batam has five main ports, namely Batam Centre, Nongsapura, Sekupang, Telaga Punggur and Waterfront City. The ports serve travelers to and from Singapore, Johor, Sumatera, Karimun islands, Bintan and other nearby destinations.


A traditional boat was floating static, looked like collecting something from the seabed.


Due to limited time, we had no chance to see all the bridges, or to visit Galang Island where Vietnam refugees were sheltered. If you fly to Medan or Singapore, plan to make a stop at Batam, and spend a few hours exploring Barelang Bridge, after or before enjoying good sea food with very reasonable price.

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Basuki at Galeri Nasional

It was out of curiosity that I made a stop at Galeri Nasional yesterday after going around north Jakarta to visit places that were on my list for quite sometimes already. The place is located just a few meters after traffic light of the only T-intersection on your way from Gambir railway station area towards Tugu Pak Tani. That was my first visit to the place where Basuki Abdullah’s works were on display.

The late flamboyant painter was very famous not only because of his impressive works as favorite painter for prominent head of states and VVIPs, but also his other works ranging from mythology, nature, women and humanity.


The solo exhibition was opened the night before and runs until July 5. The receptionist said that the place was fully packed with people who were very enthusiastic in seeing the exhibition, appreciating Basuki's works, and many of them were still seen hanging around until 11 pm.


One of the impressive works of Basuki that was displayed at the gallery shows famous jungle wild animals were running away from a danger that looks like a volcano eruption or wild fire.


His own gardener pulled the trigger of the above rifle, killing Basuki Abdullah on a burglary case at his residence in November 1993.


Perkelahian dengan Harimau (A Fight with Tiger) was painted using oil on 320 x 210 cm canvas.


Kakak dan Adik (Sister and Brother), 1978.


I spent several minutes sitting on the floor, watching video documentation of the artist in one of the rooms of the gallery.


Buruh (laborer), oil on Canvas, 80 x 120 cm.


Painting of Basuki's self-portrait.


The A-building of Galeri Nasional (National Gallery) where Basuki Abdullah's works are being displayed.

Basuki Abdullah was born in Solo on January 27, 1915. His father, son of dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo, was also a painter. Dr. Wahidin is one of the prominent figures during the Indonesian youth movements towards independence. Young Basuki was among Indonesians who attended Soekarno's historic speech at Lapangan Ikada during Indonesian struggle for independence, and made a painting depicting Soekarno's gesture during his speech.

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Candi Mendut

Candi Mendut, the most interesting and well maintained medium size Buddhist Candi, is located at Mendut village, Magelang Regency, Central Java. You should see the Candi structure when you are on your way from Yogya to Candi Borobudur, as it is located quite near to the street. A huge banyan tree close to the Candi (temple) gives convenient shelter to visitors after circling the Candi to see reliefs crafted on the outer walls.

I made a stop at Candi Mendut after enjoying morning at Menoreh. While walking towards the Candi, a few middle aged women approached me offering local T-shirts and handicrafts displayed on small shops along the way to the Candi. I bought a medium size caping, a round hat made from bambu, to cover my head from the burning sun.


Candi Mendut was seen from the left front side, where you can see structure of stairs on the right. Candi Mendut was probably built during the reign of King Indra from Syailendra Dynasty. It was Karang Tengah inscription, dated in the year 824, that revealed an information in which King Indra has built a holy place named veluvana that means bambu forest. It's not clear how a Dutch archeologist came into a conclusion that the bambu forest is meant Candi Mendut. No contemporary Indonesian archeologist, however, have ever challenged the connection.


Candi Mendut was seen from the backside. The height of the structure is 16.4 meters, with three levels of ceilings that house 48 small Stupas.


A tourist was observing relief on the first level of the Candi. There are a couple of interesting moral stories derived from the reliefs.


Below the shady banyan tree people can enjoy some localities.


Parts of the Candi's relief. Inbdonesian Wikipedia reveals interesting stories with deep meaning behind 4 reliefs of the Candi Mendut.


Statue of Dhyani Buddha Wairocana was seen with hands position of dharmacakramudra style. It was quite dark inside the Candi. Thanks to a security guard who held kind of mirror that throwing lights into the dark room, and made it possible for me to take a few shots.


On the left seid of the main statue there's statue of Awalokiteśwara (Padmapāņi) that could not be captured because of the limitation of the lights, while on the right side there's a statue of Wajrapāņi with about the same sizes.


Visiting a place like Candi Mendut that survives wars and natural disasters for centuries always leaves me with a recurring question of the kind of legacy that I will be leaving behind when the soul has flown away from the body to meet its creator. Time tells.

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