Page 22 - Mediajaya 08 Edition 2020

TOP REPORT live in a shelter in the area. They ex- lowing the standards for healthier en- “Around 100 families were staying.

Those who chose to move out to stay
pected there would be reconstruction
vironment. “We sit together and we
in flats or rented houses eventually
explained to them. We held discus-
for housing and settlement. In 2018,
sions on how to build our dreamhous-
the residents submitted the settle-
came back to Kampung Akuarium,”
ment design to Jakarta Housing and
ten called as Bu Yani, has been living
Settlement Agency (DPRKP). The Ja- es,” she said. explained Diani. This woman, who of-
Diani remembered when they tried
karta government has promised to to stay in the kampung, where the in Kampung Akuarium since 43 years
start the restoration in early January condition forced them to lead an un- ago. She still remembers her child-
2020. “We planned to start the con- healthy life. “There is no electricity nor hood time when she played in Bahari
struction in April but we must post- clean water. We dont have legal iden- Museum and meeting foreign tourists.
poned it due to the COVID-19 out- tity because we lived in a red-zone In fact, when the blaze ripped Bahari
break. Alhamdulillah, our governor area—so we cant use BPJS (health museum in 2018, all of the residents
and his staffs finally made it to the care and social security), we cant reg- were involved to extinguish the fire.
groundbreaking ceremony on August ister our kids to school. But we still “We used to see tourists since we were
17th 2020,” Diani explained. fight for our rights,” told Diani. kid. The tourists came from Dutch, Ja-
At first, some of the residents be- But some of the residents has giv- pan, China and other countries. When
lieved that they get to build their own en up and couldn’t stand to stay, so the museum was in fire we knew it im-
houses in the area, but she gave them they chose to rent a house or stay in mediately—we put them out,” she said
explanation that the government the flats. Though they also face diffi-
would help rebuild the houses, by fol- culty to make a living in the new area. has

22

Oceanography Laboratory

from The Dutch

ampung Akuarium has an inter- Koningsberger. They named the semi- East Asia. Even years after the Dutch left
Kesting history. The area, which lo- permanent building for marine research Indonesia, the kampung still attracted
cated in Penjaringan subdistrict, North “Visscherij Laboratorium te Batavia”, tourists to come to see its beauty.
Jakarta, is a cultural heritage area. Ac- or marine research lab in Batavia. Dur- The Akuarium became the citizens’
cording to Research Center for Ocean- ing the development of the lab, it was most favorite tourist destination in the
ography at Indonesian Institute of Sci- known with Visscherij Station te Batavia 1960’s, until it was closed in 1977,
ence (P20 LIPI), Kampung Akuarium or Marine Station of Batavia. along with the fish market due to the ex-
was merely a field located in a fish mar- In 1922, they began the construc- pansion of Museum Bahari area. Then,
ket in the north side of the area. But in tion for new laboratory lab which was the laboratory area was being relocated
January 10th 1898, the management more permanent. They also built a big to the east area of Ancol. Hence, people
of agricultural zoology laboratory marine aquarium, which was launched used the previous field for kampung
wanted to build a laboratory especially for public in December 23rd, 1923. The akuarium to build their houses. Now,
dedicated to marine research. aquarium, contained with various kind the area will be one of the modern kam-
The lab, which was initiated under of marine biota, became one of tour- pungs in Jakarta, which called Kampung
the government of Dutch that time, ist destinations which the community Bahari Akuarium.
was built from September 1904 to often called as Kampung Akuarium. It
December 1905. On that moment, the was recorded to be the biggest aquar-
current head of the laboratory was J.C. ium in Indonesia and even in the South sam