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Macau: Golden lessons to learn from Macau
Bambang Nurbianto , The Jakarta Post , Macau | Sun, 11/16/2008 10:30 AM | Travel
The Leal Senado building is the earliest municipal building in Macau, built around 1784. (JP/Bambang Nurbianto)
Like Jakarta, Macau is home to many invaluable historical sites scattered across the city.
If the Chinese island has Senado Old Town, where major sites are located, the Indonesian capital has Kota Tua quarter, or the Old Town, which is also rich with heritage.
The difference is that Macau people have begun benefiting from its historical sites as millions of tourists come there each year, while Jakarta is still dreaming of making its heritage a prominent tourist destination.
The Macau Senado area is now among the most prominent tourist attractions on the island, with some 11 historical sites there crowded with foreign tourists each day thanks to the Macau city administration.
In the area, which is less than one kilometer square and where the first Macau municipal building (Leal Senado building) was built in 1784, tourists can stroll easily on convenient sidewalks.
The Ruins of St Paul Church, which only consists of the front wall, originally built in 1602, is the vocal point of the area. Visitors never miss an opportunity to take a photograph in front of the wall, which is decorated with statues of Christian saints.
Other sites include Senado Square, which has become Macau urban center for centuries, Chinese's Na Cha temple located just next to the Ruins of St. Paul Church (1888), Section of the Old City Walls (1568), Mount Fortress (1617), Macau Museum and a number of old churches.
Various souvenirs are available in shops and kiosks along narrow roads connecting one site to another.
"This area is the most crowded place as nearly all foreign visitors come to the area. You may buy various souvenirs with the best prices here," said Ester, a guide who accompanied a group of journalists from Jakarta during a recent visit to the island.
The Jakarta city administration may need to learn from the Macau city government on how to preserve, maintain and promote its historical sites and how to get support from those running tourist related-businesses.
The Old Town in the northern part of the capital is no less prominent than the Senado area. Many believe that the area would become a popular tourist attraction if the Jakarta city administration was committed to polishing its many historical sites and their surrounding environment, with each site within walking distance.
If Senado area has the Leal Senado building, the Jakarta Old Town has the Museum of Jakarta History, which occupies Dutch colonial Stadhuis, or City Hall. It was built when the colonial administration was under governor general Johan Van Hoorn in 1707.
It is said that the building was a copy of Dam Palace in Amsterdam. Next to the Museum, there are Fine Arts and Ceramic Museum, which uses an old 1870 building that was formerly used for Dutch justice offices.
Other historical sites include the Puppet Museum, Kota railway station, Batavia Castle, Maritime Museum, Old Fish Market, Seaport Master Tower, Shipyard, Luar Batang Mosque, Bridge of Pearl City and Sunda Kelapa Harbor. Most of the sites were built during the Dutch colonial era.
Only Sunda Kelapa is an ancient harbor, which is believed to be constructed during Tarumanagara kingdom from 4th to 7th century. Currently, the facility is still functioning, but it has the potential to be developed into a maritime tourism site.
Unfortunately, such invaluable heritages are not as well-known as those in Macau due to a lack of promotion and maintenance. Security is also another concern for those who visit the area.
All these factors make the Batavia Old Town an unfriendly tourist destination.
The plan to revitalize the area was introduced in the 1970s when the capital was still under the leadership of former governor Ali Sadikin.
The Jakarta Old Town-Kotaku, a private organization, led by deputy Bank Indonesia governor Miranda Goeltom, established in 2004 in cooperation with the Jakarta city administration, revived the idea to revitalize the Old Town.
Since the organization was launched, there have been no significant actions done to realize the project.
Learning from Macau's success story, the Jakarta city administration is still the key to carrying out such a project because it has full authority and budget to upgrade the area into a prominent cultural tourist destination.
For example, the administration needs to improve infrastructure like pedestrian facilities, lighting and transportation facilities. It should also strengthen security so that visitors can enjoy strolling all sites without holes in sidewalks and disturbance from petty criminals.
With all these changes, investors are expected to invest in tourism-related businesses. And the last step is to introduce the area to holiday makers from across the globe, which should involve all stakeholders in the tourist industry - aviation companies, travel bureaus, restaurants and hotels.
In Macau, for example, airlines provide free tickets for travel writers or journalists from across the globe to the island, while hotels and restaurants provide them with free accommodation to introduce the island to the international community.
Jakarta may not expect to welcome some 27 million tourists as does Macau, which has casinos as its main attraction, but the capital could easily double its tourist arrivals from some 1.3 million per year. Who knows?
Robby Kaware (not verified) — Mon, 11/17/2008 - 4:37pm
If Macau is so successful as tourist destination, no doubt, the old town of Batavia is certainly as romantic and attractive because Jakarta is very rich with historical old sites and buildings.
We must lovingly maintain this old area and develop it into a heritage centre where tourists can walk leisurely from one site to another from Town Hall, Central Station, Puppet Museum, Sunda Kelapa Harbour all the way to old Portugesse Church, Fish Market and many more !
Fortunately, those sites are in walking distance to each other.
Tourists can enjoy the history of Dutch sailors who braved the very long journey through dangerous oceans to discover the very rich Nederlandsch Oost Indie (the word "Indonesia" was not known at that time).
All these sites have been covered in detail by Adolf Heuken SJ in his book titled "Historical Sites of Batavia" which can be considered as one of the most comprehensive resources about old Batavia.
For this purpose, we need to make Old Town of Jakarta as cultural area. It must be vehicle-free. Only for pedestrians and bikes.