ON MISSION
I and John Verbeek visited this battery on 27th of July 2008. John is a Dutch historian who interested about study the remnants of fortifications in Indonesia. According John Verbeek, the remnants of Battery Antjol is the biggest remains of battery as far as he observed in Indonesia.
About the meaning of battery, the battery that refers to artillery battery. That is a unit of weapons [guns, mortars, or rockets] that assembled in order to facilitate the better battlefield communication, command, and control, also to provide spreading for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems. Definitely, it is a defensive military work constructed for the purposes of strengthening a position.
THE BATTERY OF ANTJOL [TANDJONGPRIOK WEST]
Post World War I [1914-1918], the government of Netherlands Indies prepared the breezing of Pacific War, the Japanese threaten. Three batteries were built in Batavia: Antjol, Kalibaroe, and Soengai Bamboe. However, Japanese never fleet in Antjol, so the battery will be neglected. Now, the rest of battery is only in Antjol. The condition of this battery is deteriorating in every single day.
Today we found only the remnants of east building. However the south, north, and west buildings have been demolished because the development of harbor tollroad and the houses. What a pitty!
FIRST OBSERVATION: 2nd of September 2007
I was accompanied by Pak Kedi, a carpenter who works in Antjol but his family lives in Kalijati-West Java. He showed me the location of the battery. It is neglected building, today many homeless live within the battery.
SECOND OBSERVATION: 27th of July 2008
I and John Verbeek visited this battery. Damn! We found that most of hinge doors have been stolen. The condition is getting worst.
THE ATTENTION: IF WE DON’T CARE, THE BATTERY WILL BE PERISHED ANYWAY
We need our concern about this “disarmament” which happened in the battery of Antjol. Ironically, the book “Sejarah Teluk Jakarta” that published by the Bureau of Museum and History in 1996 explained that this battery is a part of the historical building surrounding Jakarta Bay. So, where is the government’s responsibility regarding the preservation of heritage building? There is no controlling to maintain the meaning of heritage building.
However, this is not only mission between me and John Verbeek, this is your mission as well. Because this mission message will be delivered to our next generation.
Are there caring communities for heritage building in Jakarta? What should we do?
Mahandis Yoanata
MY ODYSSEY 
seperti bunker ya… anyway, battery ini layak banget dilestarikan, untuk menambah pengetahuan tentang sejarah masa lampau jakarta & tentunya akan menjadi obyek wisata sejarah jakarta di masa depan.btw, aku dah vote lho… :)tfs..
seharusnyalah peninggalan ini di preservasi…
Iya ini bekas semacam pos pemusatan artileri unit-unit senjata di sisi barat Tandjong Priok. Fungsinya untuk mengamankan pantai utara Batavia, termasuk pelabuhan Tandjong Priok. Thanks atas vote-nya.Mbak noni masih di Vietnam?
Sayangnya sudah dilupakan orang-orang, bahkan pemerintah juga ikut-ikutan lupa kalo bangunan ini termasuk cagar budaya…Kalo ngk dijaga, bisa-bisa tahun depan amblaslah battery ini.
Save the heritage area !
yup, masih satu setengah tahun lagi, mas.., baru jalan-jalan ke batavia kuno, hehehe…
Oo lagi pulang ke jakarta?
ndak, maksudnya setelah pulang nanti baru bisa jalan-jalan ke old batavia, hihihi… maaf keburu-buru ngetiknya jadi ada yg ketinggalan…
sayang ya, gak ada yang care 😦
Sepertinya di setiap kota baik bangunan bersejarah ataupun cagar budaya banyak yang di tinggalkan..
Yes, there is. We have WALIBATU in Jakarta. It’s short for Warga Peduli Bangunan Tua. They have their own mailing list….
Are you member of WALIBATU?
Nog niet…:)
Mahandi, we’re from Pusat Dokumentasi Arsitektur, now we’re doing the project of Inventory and Identification of Forts in Indonesia, in cooperation with Dutch gov, and Dept. Kebudayaan and Pariwisata. We’re interesting with your invention, could you contact us at pdai_2005@cbn.net.id or pda-id@org. Thank you
Thank you for visiting my journey.I think it is very interesting project to indentify the fort scattered in Indonesia.Ok. I’ll contact you.
Sayang, pemerintah kurang perhatian kepada peninggalan-peninggalan bersejarah seperti ini, yang dipertanyakan apa memang karena ketidakpedulian terhadap sejarah atau ketiadaan dana?Mungkin kalau bisa ada kerjasama dengan Unesco misalnya untuk memberikan dana bagi pelestarian peninggalan-peninggaan bersejarah tersebut.
Ya sebaiknya inisiatif penyelamatan datang dari mayarakat dan pemerintah memberikan perlindungan. Itu lebih sustainable. Tapi yang terjadi, tidak ada inisiatif dan tidak ada perlindungan cagar budaya… Akibatnya justru tidak “sustainable” tapi “susah en memble” 🙂
Betul tuh mas yoananta, harusnya masyarakat bisa lebih peduli dengan bangunan2 sejarah sekitarnya atau mendukung NGO seperti Walibatu dengan memberikan info2 penting. Mengharapkan pemerintah terkadang lamban juga terlalu birokrasi. Hehehehe. anyway, thanks for sharing. keep the good works , bro!.
Kepedulian masyarakat memang pondasin utama. Namun pembelajaran kepada pemerintah juga mendesak, supaya kasus2 seperti Trowulan juga tak terulang.[yang se-masive Trowulan aja bisa kecolongan, apalagi kalo cuman sekedar situs sejarah kecil Indonesia, petite history…]
Oiya Walibatu bukan NGO mas… just a liquid forum for citizen 🙂
kalo da prshaan yg brsdia ikut mlestarikan t4 brsjarah sprti ni gmn mas?mnta brainstormingnya ya, niatan sya mo myakinkan prshaan dt4 sya bkrja mlstarikannya, cm msh blm tau caranya myakinkan. thanks (jeri:02196270523)
Bagus itu..bisa menjadi prototipe sustainable preservation, sebagai pembelajaran juga untuk partisipasi swasta dalam konservasi cagar budaya…Sebaiknya langsung kontak dengan Kementerian Budaya dan Pariwisata. Seharusnya pemerintah mengapresiasi ide2 seperti ini.Nomor kontak saya ada di profil blog ini.Thx.
Di beberapa gunung kecil sekitar Lembang ada benteng2 seperti ini, saya dan teman2 pernah mengunjungi satu, yang di Pasir Ipis..
Pasir Ipis itu sebelah mananya Lembang ya mas?Kebetulan Pak Verbeek masih di Indonesia sekarang, kami minggu kemarin sudah mensurvei Battery Soengai Bamboe di Jakarta Utara, 6 bunker di Bogor, 6 bunker di Bengkulu, dan bonus Fort Marlborough + Fort York di Bengkulu :)Kalo ada lokasi persisnya dan foto2 bolehlah di share di sini mas.Thanks.
Ada di album “ngaleut Sukawana”.. tp karena ketutup tumbuhan, jadinya agak sulit..
http://indraicha.multiply.com/photos/album/28
Thanks mas atas infonya!