Sunda Kelapa, An Old Lively Traditional Port

Just 15 kilometers at the western part of Tanjung Priok, we can find an old port of Sunda Kelapa. Today it serves as the anchoring spot for sailing ships, especially Bugis phinisi bringing wood and logs mostly from Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua. In turn, the sailing ships are loaded with cement, iron bars and other imported products to the various parts of Indonesia. It is indeed an amazing view as we can see so many masts in front of us as though we live a couple hundred years ago.

History

Sunda Kelapa has already been well-known since the 12th century. During that period, it became a busy port of Hindu kingdom of Pajajaran in West Java, selling pepper and spices. Foreign ships coming from China, Japan, South India, and Arabic already docked at the port carrying goods such as porcelain, coffee, silk cloths, perfumes, horses, wine, and coloring substance in exchange for spices, the wealth of the homeland at that time.

In 1522, the Portuguese Governor Alfonso d'Albuquerque, whose home base was in Malacca, sent Henrique Leme to attend the invitation of the king of Sunda to build a fort at Sunda Kelapa against the expansive people of Cirebon.

So on August 21, 1522, both the Portuguese and Sunda king made an agreement saying that the Portuguese could construct a castle at the Sunda Kelapa, while the king and his people would receive the necessary goods. In turn, Sunda king had to give the Portuguese 1000 baskets of pepper as a sign of friendship annually. A memorial stone or Padrão became the means to commemorate the event. Padrão stone was rediscovered in 1918 at the corner of Prinsenstraat (today it is called Jalan Cengkeh) in Jakarta.

Meanwhile, Demak kingdom had become the center of Islamic power politically. Realizing that the port was a good stepping ground to develop one’s power, and with the aim to eliminate Hindu religion and strengthen Moslem kingdom, Demak and Cirebon military personnel, headed by Fatahillah alias Sunan Gunung Jati, attacked Sunda Kelapa and occupied it on June 22, 1527, the day considered as the birthday of Jakarta. Being occupied, the name was changed into Jayakarta which means the real victory.

The occupation did not last long, however. Dutch colonials under Jan Pieterzoon Coen, destroyed it in 1619, on which he founded Batavia and enlarged it to the southern and eastern parts with Tanjung Priok as its port. This port was getting important because the silting process at the estuary of Ciliwung River made Sunda Kelapa become too shallow for extra-large galleons from Europe to the harbor.

In the 19th century, the area around Sunda Kelapa, in which the Dutch elite lived, became very unhealthy and they removed to the Batavia, and the port was relatively neglected. But in 1817 the Dutch government improved the port by extending its canal from 810 meters to become 1,825 meters.

After Indonesia independence, Sunda Kelapa was improved and enlarged. The canal was made deeper and longer. Following the improvement, the then Jakarta governor, Ali Sadikin, issued a decree, in 1974, stating that the name Sunda Kelapa was officially used.

Today’s Condition
Currently, the port of has a land area of 760 hectares, and water pond area of 16,470 hectares, with the main harboring space at Kalibaru, which has a length of 3,250 meters and 1,200 meters wide to accommodate 70 sailing ships.

From the economic point of view, this port is strategically close to the trading centers in Jakarta, such as Glodok, Pasar Pagi, Mangga Dua, and others. As inter-island port, Sunda Kelapa is still visited by sailing ships of around 175 tons.
Goods transported from this port are the staple food in addition to grocery items and textiles. For development outside of Java Island, Sunda Kelapa also delivers building materials such as iron and cement.

All of the ships are traditional sailing boats coming from all traditional ports throughout the archipelago. Bugis and Madurese are famous for their ability as traditional sailors since olden times. Loading and unloading of goods at the port are still using traditional means and this why the port does not have any international certificates. Sunda Kelapa is also called the Fish Market Port because there is a fish market inside the area, where the newly caught fishes are auctioned every morning.

Why Declines?
Why does Sunda Kelapa decline? That the old and prosperous port finally declined and the newly constructed Tanjung Priok grew into a big port even at the international level, this must be traced back to the era of Dutch colonial, where they considered that Sunda Kelapa was not able to accommodate European galleons coming here to buy pepper and spices.

They constructed Tanjung Priok as the new port of Batavia, the newly built city under Jan Pieterzoon Coen in 1619, and since then trading activities were removed to this new port. It had a deeper pond as compared to Sunda Kelapa’s and therefore could accommodate big galleons coming from Europe.

The construction and opening of Sues Canal in 1869 made more galleons come to Tanjung Priok with ever-increasing tonnage and the estimated capacity amounting to 1,000 tons made them difficult to the harbor at Sunda Kelapa but easy to anchor at Tanjung Priok, accelerating its development. The invention of the steam-ships, which all harbored at Tanjung Priok, was another blow for Sunda Kelapa.

Important Buildings

Indonesian Maritime Museum has located here in which it keeps nautical equipment, replicas of Indonesian sailing boats, pictures from olden kingdoms up to the present day era.

Another building is the watchtower. It was built in 1839 with the main aim to monitor/control the ships that docked in the port of Sunda Kelapa. The wide and open view from the top of the tower made the job of the watchmen easier.
The tower is now leaning because the soggy soil is not able to support the big building, especially from the past. The leaning process goes on, around one centimeter annually. Jakarta officials have cemented and strengthened the foundation of the building, but it is of little value to re-erect the building.