Koleksi Kita Continues at Jakarta History Museum & Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics

Through Koleksi Kita, SEAMS continued its cataloguing and digitization activities in February at the Jakarta History Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics.

More than 300 collection objects from Jakarta History Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics will be made accessible through the Koleksi Jakarta/Jakarta Collections database, or Jakarta Digital Collections (JDC), which is scheduled to be launched in mid-2026.

As part of strengthening the narratives of museum collections under the Jakarta Provincial Department of Culture, the cataloguing team from both museums also conducted provenance research and contextual enrichment by inviting expert speakers for several collections. These included the Betawi jewelry collection at Jakarta History Museum with Yahya Andi Saputra, Chairman of the Betawi Cultural Institute, as well as the paintings and sketches of Henk Ngantung with his daughter, Geni Ngantung.

The cataloguing and digitization of 243 objects at the Jakarta History Museum resulted in several research themes, including the development of transportation in Jakarta through miniature transportation collections, as well as Jakarta’s maritime culture through collections of fishing tools, boats, and miniature boats.

Meanwhile, the 101 collection objects at the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics, consisting of paintings and sketches, are interpreted through historical context and the contributing artists of each work, including Henk Ngantung, Hendra Gunawan, S. Sudjojono, Trubus, Emiria Soenassa, and Siti Roelijati.

Exploring the History of Jakarta’s Transportation

The Jakarta History Museum is home to a wide range of collections that illustrate the development and daily life of the people of Jakarta, including jewelry, miniatures, musical instruments, traditional cake molds, and household furnishings.

One type of collection that represents the development and aspects of life in Jakarta is miniatures. The miniature collections at the Jakarta History Museum include transportation, houses, and even baskets used by street vendors, depicting the daily life of Jakarta’s residents in the past.

Public transportation itself has long been an inseparable part of Jakarta’s urban identity. Long before TransJakarta became the city’s integrated bus rapid transit system, various modes of transportation appeared and evolved over time, marking the city’s growth and changing eras.

Alongside the emergence of becak in Jakarta, another form of transportation also appeared, the oplet. This vehicle was created by modifying the chassis of European-made sedans and adding a wooden passenger cabin behind the driver. It later became widely recognized through the iconic Betawi television series 'Si Doel Anak Sekolahan'.

Another vehicle introduced as a modernization of traditional public transportation was the bemo. Coinciding with the hosting of GANEFO (Games of the New Emerging Forces) in Jakarta, the government procured bemo vehicles to replace several older modes of transportation.

The Jakarta History Museum also holds a miniature of a simple transportation vessel used by residents to cross rivers, known as the perahu eretan. Although the exact time when this boat was first used is unknown, its presence reflects the ingenuity of local communities in addressing mobility challenges in Jakarta’s downstream areas, where wide rivers were common.

In addition to transportation miniatures, the museum also preserves miniatures of a saung (traditional hut), a Chinese-style house, and baskets used by street vendors.

Exploring Pre-Independence History through the Medium of Art

When discussing Indonesia’s pre-independence period through works of art, the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics becomes an important reference, as it houses numerous paintings and sketches that document this era.

The development of fine arts in Indonesia has been strongly influenced by social, cultural, political, religious, and diplomatic conditions during specific historical periods. As a result, artworks are often categorized based on historical eras, such as the Dutch East Indies (colonial) period, the Japanese occupation, independence, the New Order, the Reform era, and the modern period.

Before Indonesia gained independence, many artists produced paintings and sketches that captured events from that time. One of them was Henk Ngantung.

Henk Ngantung’s works are known for their connection to the struggle for Indonesian independence as well as his role in the development of public art during the 1950s–1960s.

The sketches of Henk Ngantung preserved at the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics depict scenes from the independence struggle, such as the military training activities of Indonesian youth or the Defenders of the Homeland (Pembela Tanah Air/PETA) during the Japanese occupation, documentation of the Linggarjati Agreement, and sketches related to the West Irian Liberation Monument.

Ngantung’s works from 1944, which frequently portray PETA soldiers, led to his recognition as a realist painter, an artist who represents subjects with a level of accuracy that closely reflects reality based on direct observation.

The year 1944 was a significant moment in the period leading up to Indonesia’s independence. At that time, Japan began promising independence to Indonesia as a strategy to gain local support amid increasing pressure from Allied forces during World War II.

Henk Ngantung’s works hold not only artistic value but also function as a form of documentation that captures the social and political dynamics of the time. Through his observations as an artist, he portrayed various events and atmospheres leading up to independence in visual forms that reflect the conditions of the era.

This activity would not have been possible without the support of the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), which is committed to preserving historic buildings, archaeological and cultural sites, museum objects and collections, as well as traditional cultural expressions in partner countries.
Stay tuned for the next edition of Jakarta Collections featuring the Maritime Museum and the Betawi Museum.