Awaken the Dragon in Glodok Chinatown

The theme “Recover Together, Recover Stronger” of the G20 Summit held in Nusa Dua, Bali on 15-16 November 2022 is likely in line with sustainable development goals, especially the goal to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable which will eventually strengthen efforts to protect and conserve cultural and natural heritage (BAPPENAS, 2019). A sustainable city simply means a thriving and changing society. A sustainable city also means an attractive space for people, culture, commerce, and the economy. This space provides opportunities for interaction, works, and activities, as well as education to develop human potential, as written by Steven Cohen and Guo Dong in The Sustainable City (second edition, 2021). No less important are the challenges in fostering a sustainable community or society.

The Glodok Chinatown area in West Jakarta with its historic traces could be considered as cultural resource of the city, as stated by Ashworth and Tunbridge in The Tourist-Historic City: Retrospect and Prospect of Managing the Heritage City (2000) that history has become heritage and heritage becomes city resources. The cultural resource management approach can be practically applied to record, evaluate, protect, and present the heritage of the past for the future, as Carman wrote in Archaeological Resource Management: An International Perspective (2015). Heritage is one of the products of cultural heritage-based tourism. The cultural resource of the Glodok Chinatown lies in the collective memory of its citizens through physical evidence of its history.

Urban tourism began in the 80s, especially in Anglo-American countries such as the United States and Canada, which connected tourism activities with recreation outside the city or in the countryside and in direct contact with nature, although in the view of industrialists, cities are seen as places for work, commerce, and government. In the 70s and 80s in the city of Bologna, Italy, local communities promoted initiatives and efforts for modern entrepreneurship, including in the tourism sector, by creating opportunities for synergy between the conservation of historic buildings and environmental improvement, including in regional urban planning regulations. In Indonesia, one of the examples is the city of Bandung, which in the past decades has continued to improve its historic core area such as the Braga area and has become a heritage-based tourism destination. The development of old Batavia (now the Kota Tua Jakarta) in the 1645s was linked to Phoa Bing Am, a Chinese captain (kapitein der Chinezen) who is known for his irrigation work. He built canals in 1648 to transport logs to the shipbuilding area and Sunda Kelapa Harbour. The areas along the canals were developed into settlements dominated by Chinese and European immigrants. The old Batavia was an area that was very popular with Chinese immigrants since the early 17th century. They served as traders and provided services as brokers between pribumi traders from the hinterland to international markets in Southeast Asia, although the Dutch then tried to limit the number of Chinese populations by making immigration regulations in coastal cities which then lead to numerous uprisings against the Dutch.

After the 1740 uprising, the Chinese descents were reallocated to the Petak Sembilan area within the Kota (ommelanden) area which was called as the Chine Kwartier in the old Batavia map. As many as 5000 of Chinese descent were massacred behind the Batavia City Hall by the orders of Governor General Adrian Valckenier (1695-1751). The situation got worse due to the malaria, cholera and plague outbreaks in the Ciliwung River estuary area. After the VOC was dissolved in 1795, the old city of Batavia was still developing but no longer healthy.

Governor General H.W. Daendels during his leadership in 1808-1811 dismantled part of the city walls and bastions to develop the southern part of the city (weltevreden) which today is called Gambir area (Yulianto Sumalyo in the History of Kota Tua (2007)).

Cultural resources can be seen as historical records of each ethnic group, reflecting the life and livelihood of the Indonesian people in all its aspects, both socio-cultural, economic, and religious. Based on their nature, cultural resources can be divided into two groups, namely the tangible cultural resources and intangible cultural resources which both formed the national cultural wealth and identity. The long record of human history creates cultural heritage along with its associated landscapes and areas to which archaeological resources are attached.

The development of Chinatown area has a long history that goes back to the preindustrial cities during the local kingdoms and empires era (Denys Lombard in Nusa Jawa Silang Budaya Jilid III: Warisan Kerajaan-Kerajaan

Konsentris, 2005) and then the Dutch colonization in the 17th to 20th century. In the 18th century the number of migrants who came to Batavia from mainland China increased. They acculturated and assimilated and established the present Chinatown (Glodok) area. In the Glodok area – for example the Tamansari District of West Jakarta – the historical character of the area has the potential to be developed as a cultural heritage tourism destination, which is generally divided into two, namely centers of sacred activities and centers of profane activities. The center of sacred activity is represented by temples or monasteries and churches. There are quite a number of temples and monasteries in the Glodok Chinatown area, as well as ash houses for certain clans or families. The large temples or monasteries in the Glodok Chinatown area are the Budhi Dharma Temple/Li Tie Guai Temple, Ariya Marga Temple/Nan Jing Miao Temple, Toa Se Bio Temple, and Djin De Yuan Temple. Whereas for the churches, there are the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Commerce and Church of Santa Maria De Fatima. The centers for profane activity – such as markets, roads or alleys, schools and houses in the Glodok Chinatown area – that are being used for economic activity could also be used as cultural and heritage tourism destinations due to their distinctive character of the Kota Tua Jakarta.

Cultural heritage objects could be utilized for the benefit of religion, social, education, science, technology, culture, and tourism. The cultural resources in Glodok Chinatown could be utilized to support the Sustainable Development Goal 11 to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable, especially target 11.4 which aims to strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage. However, utilization should be carried out in a careful manner while minimizing possible damage and taking into account the development of other cultural heritage-based creative economies, such as tour guides, crafts and others (Wiwin D Ramelan in Model Pemanfaatan Kawasan Cagar Budaya Trowulan Berbasis Masyarakat, 2015). In supporting sustainable urban development, tourism in urban areas is part of the production process of a city which is not only used for consumption. If we make the effort to protect and safeguard our city’s cultural heritage, we might awaken the dragon in Glodok, so that it could stand upright again and breathe fire.