THE CHANGING ROLES OF MONUMENTS AS SYMBOLS IN THE CAPITAL CITY : JAKARTA AND ITS LANDMARKS

Abstract

Monuments are long-lasting physical symbols. As symbols, they have a role to represent messages encoded in its design by its designer or patron, or user through the way the monuments are used. Hence both the encoder and the receiver affect the message, aspiration, or vision embodied by the monuments. As a long lasting physical entity, monuments survive long after the people of its inception period are gone. Since their size and significance render them impractical to be demolished, they are often altered to suit the needs of the subsequent generations.

Over the course of long history of a nation, these generations could be the different ruling regimes, each with its own vision, strategy, and challenges faced. The different approaches by each regime bring corresponding changes of the monuments’ design and usage, and some monuments might be given more attention and prominence than others. Documenting these changes in parallel over time, there would be a pattern of correlation between the trend in the political, economic, and social sphere, and that in the design and usage of monuments. It can be argued that the lives of monuments are closely linked with the life of the nation they symbolize.

This paper documents the life of Indonesia as a nation, and comparatively parallels its development and trends with changes experienced by two monuments, namely Monas and Bundaran HI, that are considered the most representative as a national symbol. The observation focuses its attention on Jakarta, the capital city, whose development becomes the context in which these monuments live. Jakarta itself becomes the representation of the ruling state, the people of Indonesia, and the symbolic ecology of monuments of Indonesia.