Gedung Djoang '45

There is a great disparity about what our fathers understood about independence day to what we learned in school. We have learned about our first president Soekarno as the first president on his fight against our freedom, however, the fight itself was not a individual struggle, it could have only be achieved through a collective force.

Gedung Djoang ’45 in Menteng thus becomes a historical record of Indonesia’s journey towards independence. This museum was then a hotel before becoming a meeting point for a political education program governed by Soekarno, A.M Hanafi, Chaerul Saleh, and Adam Malik — known as Pemoeda Menteng 31, a collective responsible in the re-enactmet of Soekarno, Hatta, and Fatmawati’s kidnapping to Rengasdengklok one day before independence day.

In this museum, we learned through a chronological tour on the people and events that followed towards the birth of Indonesia. We can witness the remains of our history through the past objects, statement posters, staged figurines and one of its exclusive feature being the official service transportation once owned by the first president and vice president as well as the car used by Soekarno during an assassination attempt at a school function in Cikini.

The only problem we found about the museum was many of its posters were digitally printed and blown up from its original scale, creating pixelated imagery, an unfortunate part which affected the whole viewing experience. Although for an entrance which only cost us Rp. 5000, – we are not complaining much, we only wish for today is everybody put a little effort in understanding pieces of our past to make sense of the present.

Gedung Djoang ’45
Jl. Menteng Raya No.31,
Menteng, Kota Jakarta Pusat,
Daerah Khusus Ibukota
Jakarta 10340, Indonesia

Text by Athina Ibrahim
Photography by Krishni Swandayani