The temporary post office at Rijswijk (Jalan Veteran), 1947
Former Batavia/Jakarta residents will immediately recognise this characteristic building as the well-known boutique clothing store of August Savelkoul along Rijswijk 8 (now Jalan Veteran). However in February 1947 it was the temporary ‘main post office’ of Batavia/Djakarta, i.e. the post office run by the Dutch authorities. Interestingly, the original main post office along Postweg (now Jalan Pos) was since 1945 managed by the Indonesian nationalists. While the Dutch regained control over the city throughout 1946, with the assistance of the British army and Nepalese Ghurka militia, the telephone exchange on Koningsplein/Gambir and the post office on Postweg/Jalan Pos were the last two buildings under Indonesian control. Hence there was a situation between the end of 1945 and early 1947 where Indonesian stamps were issued on Postweg/Jalan Pos, and Dutch East Indies stamps on Rijswijk/Jalan Veteran. The situation of dual post offices in Batavia/Djakarta ended in July 1947 when Mr. Catalani, who was the general manager of the Dutch controlled post office and had been the Director of the main post office on Postweg/Jalan Pos since its opening in 1913 (!), moved from the temporary premises on Rijswijk 8 back to the main office on Postweg/Jalan Pos. A newspaper article from 23 July 1947 mentioned that the transition happened peacefully and that “Mr. Catalani received a warm welcome from the Indonesian personnel, of which most of them knew him as they had already worked for him before World War II”. All Indonesian personnel was allowed to stay and keep working in the post office, hence it was a smooth transition.
NV Kledingmagazijn, formerly Savelkoul
Obviously, after the transfer of sovereignty in December 1949, all post offices came again under permanent Indonesian control. Shortly after the temporary post office had closed, the premises on Rijswijk 8 became a clothing store again under the name “N.V. Kledingmagazijn, formerly Savelkoul”. August Savelkoul himself did not return as he had moved to the Netherlands because his wife had become seriously ill. The store was managed by a certain Mr. N. Stoffel, at least until 1954. In 1955 the Indonesian Transport Advisory Bureau was located in the building on what was then no longer known as Rijswijk, but Djalan Segara. Later this street became Jalan Veteran. This lovely building has been demolished, but we do not know in what year.
An original train ticket from Parung Panjang to Tanah Abang, 1940s
We have obtained a rare train ticket for the trip from Pandjang (or Paroeng Pandjang, now Parung Panjang in West Java) to Tanah Abang in Batavia/Jakarta. It is not known from what year exactly but comparing the tariff for this trip with those from before World War II, and the ones in the Indonesian language from the early 1950s, it suggests this train ticket must be from the late 1940s. During the 1930s prices of train tickets were much lower as a result of the financial crisis. Train tickets we have seen from the early 1950s are in exactly the same design but then obviously in the Indonesian language and in Rupiahs rather than Guilders. However if any readers recognise such train tickets from their travel experiences in the past and be able to date this more precisely, we would love to hear that.
Tickets bought via K.P.M.
Parung Panjang was an important train stop on the line between Rangkasbetoeng/Rangkasbitung and Batavia/Jakarta. This ticket, with the option to travel first class for the full rate or second class for half rate, has been issued aboard one of the vessels of the Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM) and suggests that passengers, who travelled between the islands of the Indies/Indonesia, had the opportunity to purchase train tickets before arrival, which probably would have saved them the hassle of queuing in front of the counters on the train stations, so they could go straight to the train platforms. It is surprising that such ordinary and everyday items like train tickets have become so rare. We can only assume because they were usually disposed of after usage.
One of the first aerial photographs of Jakarta, taken on 24 November 1924, moments before the first plane ever touched down in Indonesia. Jan Thomassen à Thuessink van der Hoop (1893-1969) was captain of a Fokker F.VIII which already departed from Amsterdam on 1 October 1924 but took seven weeks to arrive in Batavia, after having experienced several technical issues. Here the plane flew over the area of Hotel des Indes and Postspaarbank (Bank Tabungan Negara) and we are looking eastwards across Noordwijk (Jalan Juanda) on the left of the canal and Rijswijk (Jalan Veteran) on the right side.
Harmonie
On the right front of the photo society De Harmonie. Halfway the photo on the right side we recognise Paleis Rijswijk (now Istana Negara), further up the right Hotel de Nederlanden. Along Noordwijk on the left side of the canal many offices of which those of the ENLVM, NILLMIJ and NHM were the most well-known. On the front left, on the corner of Molenvliet Oost (Jalan Hayam Wuruk) and Noordwijk an empty site where a few years later the construction of Hotel des Galeries would commence.
This road between Jalan Thamrin and Pasar Tanah Abang in Jakarta is officially part of the subdistrict Tanah Abang and has had many names over the years. Around 1800 it was called “Weg van Weltevreede naar Tanna Abang” (road from Weltevreden to Tanah Abang). It basically was the road that Justinus Vinck had built in 1735 to connect the newly constructed pasars of Tanah Abang and Senen. During the second half of the 19th century the name “Kampoeng Lima” started to appear on maps, a name that has existed until the construction of New Gondangdia during the 1910s. As soon as the Nieuwe Tamarindelaan (now Jalan Dr Sam Ratulangi, or Jalan Asam Baru) was opened, the Kampoeng Lima road was renamed into Oude Tamarindelaan (Old Tamarind road).
Jalan Asam Lama
Even after independence it was still known as Jalan Asam Lama (the Indonesian translation of Old Tamarind) until the second half of the 1950s when it was renamed into Djalan KH Wahid Hasjim (in 1972 after the spelling change it became Jalan KH Wahid Hasyim), named after the minister of religious affairs in a couple of Soekarno’s cabinets. He died tragically in a car accident in 1953, only 38 years old. His son Abdurrahman Wahid (or Gus Dur) became the later President of Indonesia. The street name Jalan KH Hasyim Ashari (formerly Gang Chaulan) is named after the father of KH Wahid Hasyim.
Queen Juliana state visit
It was Dutch photographer Joost Evers (of ANEFO) who -in Jakarta during the state visit of Queen Juliana in August 1971- left his hotel during a break, walked from Jalan Thamrin to Pasar Tanah Abang and took dozens of beautiful and razorsharp colour photos. These lovely pictures show peaceful scenes of a street that apparently looks like it could have been in a small town in Central Java. A striking contrast with the four lane noisy Jalan KH Wahid Hasyim of today. When staying in Hotel Kosenda on this street last year I got told by an old Jakarta man that this street is still known by its nickname Jalan Asam Lama.
A rare aerial view of the plain in front of society De Harmonie, taken by a KNILM airplane in 1935. De Harmonie itself is not visible, but a few other historic Jakarta icons of the past are. On the top and top right the complex and main building of Hotel des Indes, which was demolished in 1971. Under and behind the trees left of the main hotel building lies the 19th century dependance of the hotel, which had been in use as a reception pavilion. At the back we see various guest buildings and other pavilions. On the front right Hotel des Galeries where we notice deck chairs on the first floor’s terrace. This building does still partly exist today but has sadly been unrecognisably altered.
Postspaarbank – Bank Tabungan Negara
On the left the head office of the Postspaarbank (now Bank Tabungan Negara), which does still exist today and even has the name ‘Postspaarbank’, initially removed during the early 1950s, back on top of the building since 2018. Besides some tram carriages and the odd car, it is very quiet at this important intersection of the city, probably -as we can conclude from the tree shades- as this picture has been taken in the early hours of the morning.
Archives destroyed
The archives of the KNILM comprised of thousands of unique aerial photos from all over the archipelago, taken from 1924 onwards. They were stored at the premises of the Topographische Dienst but sadly all destroyed by the Japanese during World War II. The only KNILM photos that exist today are the ones which were sent to archives and museums in the Netherlands before 1940, and ones like these who were published in books. This photo appears in the book Gordel van Smaragd by Dirk de Vries.
