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I'd been
putting off and putting off a trip to Taman Prasasti in Jakarta but
finally I made it there. It had become a bit of a grail for me, not
purely because it was a place of historic interest in Jakarta I hadn't
visited but because of 2 people who were left here.
The main pillared entrance
was being renovated when I arrived and the fine white paint had been
chipped and all that remained of the facade was the naked brick work,
ugly and bare.
But construction site or
not this is still Indonesia and they gleefully took my money and let me
in, the first guest of the day! Museum staff were at working keeping the
grounds tidy while I walked at leisure round the park, today one third
the size of before.
I soon found Raffles wife. She was buried here on
a raised base and surrounded by pillars that once supported a roof. The
pillars have long gone, they couldn't support the roof.
Raffles of
course spent most of his time in
Bogor and
there he built a grander monument to his wife.
| Next to Olivia
lies Raffles close friend John Leyden. More than Raffles Leyden
was an ardent Asianophile, he lived, breathed, loved the history
and heritage of this area. He was multilingual, he pointed his
friend towards Singapore, he was close to Olivia, in life and
death. |
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But how did Raffles feel when, just after the British had invaded Java
up at
Cilincing,
Leyden had raced to explore the Dutch records kept in cool store rooms.
Too cool. He caught a fever and died a couple of days later. I caught a
fever the same day after walking through Inscription Park but after an
uncomfortable night sweating profusely and imbibing lots of Gatorade I
recovered.
Sources:
Historical Sites of
Jakarta - A Heuken
In The Footsteps of
Stamford Raffles - Nigel Barley
www.londoh.com |
