Suropati Park in Central Jakarta

If there was a beautiful park in Jakarta that I first knew and visited then it for sure was Jakarta's Suropati Park. Its location is indeed very strategic at the cross roads of Jl Diponegoro and Jl Imam Bonjol, at the end of Jl Teuku Umar on the north side and at the end of symmetrical street Jl Besuki and Jl Samsurizal on West and East side. Read in Bahasa Indonesia.

At the end of Jl Besuki on the west direction there is Menteng Park, while Jl Samsurizal to the East direction goes to Jl Surabaya which is famous with its Antiques and Classified Goods market. Through Jl Samsurizal or Jl Teuku Umar we can also go to Situ Lembang Park.

What distinguishes Suropati Park area compared to Situ Lembang Park and Menteng Park are the existence of artistic sculptures that decorate the heritage park, as well as the presence of Merpati (pigeon) birds. The birds though are not that tame, but they are not afraid of being close to visitors.

Suropati Park's sign on the road side of Jalan Diponegoro. Suropati Park has been a beautiful place since the colonial era and became the center of Menteng elite area, and its location is now very close to the official house of the Governor of DKI Jakarta and the houses of the senior state officials.

In the West side of the park there is residence of the US Ambassador which tight security sometimes annoyed passing by pedestrians and those who want to take phots of Suropati Park. Suropati Park original name was Burgemeester Bisschopplein, and the designer was PAJ Mooejen and FJ Kubatz.

The park's name came from the first Batavian Mayor (Burgemeester), i.e. G.J. Bisshop (1916-1920). Pieter Adrianss Jacobus Moojen, the architect, lived and worked in Indonesia during 1904 - 1929. He played a major role in designing and building the Nieuw-Gondangdia area, the early name of Menteng. Moojen designed the Menteng pattern (radial pattern) in 1910 and was approved by the municipal council in 1912. The draft came to be known as the Moojen Plan.

Youngsters were chatting on the side of a large open area on the south side of the Suropati Park, while another young man was sitting at Jokowi's chair, playing his violin. It's unclear what song he was playing. I had a chance to greet the violinist who looked rather awkwardly playing in that place.

Reportedly every Sunday morning until late afternoon there is music players' community named Taman Suropati Chambers plays and practices there. Members of this community have reached over 100 people who are mostly violinists and guitarists. Suropati Park seems no longer a free place for sports and recreation only, but also a place of art activities for Jakartans.

An inscription explains the existence of monuments and sculptures in Suropati Park, known as the ASEAN Monument, featuring works of sculptors from six countries that became the founders of ASEAN. From Thailand named Fraternity, from Indonesia titled Peace, Singapore is Spirit of ASEAN, Malaysia titled Peace, Harmony and One, and Brunei Darussalam named Rebirth. The Spirit of ASEAN Statue was made by Wee Beng Chong from Singapore, a famous artist born in Singapore on November 22, 1938 who was the first recipient of the Cultural Medallion in 1979 initiated by Ong Teng Cheong, President, and then Minister of Culture of Singapore.

Two young mothers with their sons were seen playing with Pigeons in Suropati Park. Feeding birds can be an entertaining activity in Suropati Park, even though you need to bring your own grains from home. There is no official count of how many pigeons live freely in this park, but they are certainly more than several dozens. It is also unclear whether there are officers who regularly feed the birds.

Taman Suropati underwent a renovation in 2009 - 2010 to its shape as seen today. While the Jokowi's chairs were installed in 2014, and similarly was the free high-speed wifi facility. The statue of Harmony by Awang Hj Latif Aspar from Brunei Darussalam is seen in one part of the park. Rebirth's sculpture by Luis E. Yee Jr. (Junyee) from the Philippines is located in a corner of a park near Jl Diponegoro and Jl Imam Bonjol. A samll structure in which there is a statue of Rebirth is the only place to have a shade in Taman Suropati, in addition to the Guards' Post.

Fraternity Statue was the work of Nonthivathn Chandhanaphalin. The sculptor who was born on 16 October 1946 is also a lecturer in Sculpture Department, Faculty of Painting Sculpture and Graphic Arts, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. He has also been President of The Thai Sculptor Association since 1982. The post contains a brief description of the sculpture made on a small concrete box that can be seen from the main pedestrain pathway that splits Suropati Park.

There are detailed garden plans and detailed explanations attached to the right side of the park, including mentioning that the ornamental plant land in this park has an area of 1,173 m2 of the total area of 16,328 m2, with 93 protective trees. The vegetation types are Mahogany (Swietania mahagoni), Sawo Kecik (Chrysophiliium sp), Ketapang (Terminalia catappa), Cape (Mimusop elengi), Bungur (Lagerstromea loudonii), and Khaya (Khaya senelaensis L).

I'd once stopped by early in a morning at Suropati Park for a morning walk before going to office, but have never been there on Saturday morning or Sunday morning to enjoy the crowd. Evenings, especially Saturday night, also seems fun to walk around enjoying the atmosphere of the park, or just sitting around while eating snacks and surfing the web using free wifi.

In rush hours car owners can no longer park at around the Suropati Park. Only motorcycles are allowed. Visitors may park their vehicles at Sunda Kelapa Great Mosque or at Proclamation Manuscript Formulation Museum. When I went there the cleanliness of Taman Suropati looked well maintained. A janitor said that there were at least 17 workers who swept Taman Suropati, and in one day the park was cleaned 3-5 times.