A Glance of Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (Indonesia Miniature Park)

A GLANCE OF INDONESIA MINIATURE PARK

On December 7th 2017, I got the opportunity to visit one of the most visited tourism objects in Jakarta. There, I learned so many cultural and art things that is representing Indonesia's beautiful and unique culture. Here you can learn more with the help of local guide but dont worry, you can also explore this cultural park by yourself. With it's pavilions and other buildings, Indonesia Miniature Park will bring you to another stage of amazement.

Now, we will start with te brief introduction about Indonesia Miniature Park before going into some pavilions' explanation.

Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (Indonesia Miniature Park) is Indonesia’s answer to every visitor’s prayer to see the magnificent archipelago in just one day. It is located in Eastern Jakarta and this cultural and educational park become one of our favorite tourism object.

The construction plan begins from a meeting at the house of Suharto, our former president, on Jalan Cendana No. 8, Jakarta, on March 13, 1970. During the meeting, Siti Hartinah or more fondly known as Ibu Tien, wife of former President Soeharto proposed to be built a location that contains cultural tours to raise the pride of Indonesia and our culture.

It is an extensive park to get a glimpse of the diverseness of the Indonesian archipelago. It represents Indonesia’s 33 provinces and their outstanding characteristics, reflected most strikingly in the exact regional architecture of the province. Each pavilions is representative of each province firm the traditional architectural style in miniature to a wonderful display of cultural items and exhibits. An extensive theme park set in over 100 hectares on the outskirts of Jakarta. All Indonesian islands are realistically reproduced in miniature in a central lake and around the lakes.

The park’s centerpiece is a beautiful artificial lake. It also has its own orchid garden in which hundreds of Indonesian orchid varieties are grown. There is also a bird park with a walk-in aviary, a fauna museum and recreational grounds with a swimming pool and restaurants. The special interest here at Taman Mini is the Museum Indonesia. A richly decorated building in Balinese architecture, it houses contemporary arts, crafts and traditional costumes from the different regions of the country. As a tourist area, TMII have a variety of outdoor recreation facilities (out door recreation) with very reasonable green environment so as to increase the knowledge and information about society, culture, and environment of Indonesia in miniature garden treats.

If you want to know more about our unique arts, you can watch some traditional performances that oftenly held here. But if you want to take some photos with unique background, you can visit some of the pavilions or go to Keong Emas Theater. You can also enjoy the full scenery of Taman Mini by riding cable car or taking regular bus that will take you stroll around. If you want to know more about our diverse religions, you can visit each worship place. There is also a waterpark called Snow Bay.

Besides all of that attractions, Taman Mini recently built more modern attractions such Planetarium and Dunia Air Tawar that can be your choice because these two atrractions offer you and your child so many things to do and to learn. You can also choose another outdoor activities such as Outbound Field and don’t worry about the safety because it will guarantee your safety.

I got a chance to visited some interesting point while exploring this cultural park such as West Sumatera Pavilion, West Java Pavilion and South Sumatera Pavilion. I also visited the Hakka Museum dan Chinese Cultural Park to learn about my ancestors. To show our diversity in religions, I also enclose two worship houses, which are Protestant's and Buddhism's.

WEST SUMATERA PAVILION

The West Sumatera Pavilion presents five traditional houses: the main house (rumah gadang), the traditional hall (balairung), the rice house (rangkiang), and prayer barn (surau); all four traditional Minangkabau houses; the fifth is a Mentawai traditional house. There are also some supporting buildings for offices, canteen and a performance stage (medan nan bapeneh) presenting various regional art on Sundays and holidays.

The Rumah Gadang is a big house where the family lives with all the traditionally and costumary aspects. In Minangkabau the “rumah gadang” is not the property of an individual but that of all the family clan. As the Minangkabau people adhere to matriarchy, the “rumah gadang” is occupied by a woman with the mother’s brother as the head of the family (mamak tungganal). Bachelors are not allowed to sleep in the “rumah gadang”, but must sleep in the prayer house (surau” since childhood.

The basic from of a rumah gadang is rectangular, built on stilts and often called “rumah bagonjong” because it has a roof that curves upwards with pointed ends resembling the water buffalo’s horn. The walls that are expanding upwards are called “silek” and function to prevent the rain to seep into the house. The covered staircase is in the front of the house. The rumah gadang is divided into a number of rooms called “bilik” which is usually uneven.

The rumah gadang at the West Sumatera Pavilion has nine rooms marked by a row of poles in the middle serving as a boundary as there are no dividers. The house is used to display and exhibit a wedding dais, handicraft products, agricultural tools, traditional musical instruments – among others the (talempong), bells, the Silungkang woven cloth, and traditional costumes from each regency presented by mannequins. The space underneath the house is used to sell souvenirs of various handicrafts among other the “songket Silungkang” (Silungkang woven cloth), accessories, painting and various ready-to wear dresses.

The Balairung is a meeting place for the traditional elders (penghulu) to discuss problems of the village (nagari). Principally the balairung is the same as the rumah gadang, with two different models, the “Budi Chaniago” and the “Koto Piliang” model. A balairung is an open hall sometimes without no walls at all. The far end is reserved for the elderly (penghulu peunak). The balairung in the pavilion functions for meetings, exhibitions and performances of the Minangkabau traditional art.

All the traditional buildings have decorations in the form of a variety of carvings: a flat carving, a chisel (pahat), perforation and burnt caving; mostly is a design of plants, flowers and animals dominantly in the colors of red, yellow, black, and blue. The carvings beautify and contain traditional Minangkabau doctrins.

The West Sumatera Pavilion has a dance studio providing education and training especially dancing and drum music for children and youngsters. This pavilion is one of the most visited pavilion in Taman Mini because West Sumatera is one of the biggest provinces in Indonesia. Here you can also rent some spaces for traditional uses or other event.

If visitors want to taste the Padangnese cuisine, there is a canteen serving nasi padang (padang rice) with a special menu: ayam panggang (roasted chicken), embila (meat simmered in spices and coconut milk), gulai ikan (fish curry), daging cincang (minced meat), dendeng (jerked meat), ikan asam pade (sweet-sour fish), sambal cabe (chilli sauce) and sate padang (small pieces of meat roasted on skewer prepared in the Padang style). All the dishes are delicious and appetizing.

WEST JAVA PAVILION

The West Java Pavilion presents the main building in the form of an imitation of the Cirebon Kasepuhan Palace Complex serving as the centre of the Pavilion as well. The original Kasepuhan Palace was built in 1529 by Raden Sepet from Majapahit.

Moreover, the West Java Pavilion also presents a supporting building of the Palace that serves as a place to play welcome music (ajeng), as a guardpost (lunjuk) functioning as an office, waiting room (sri menganti), a place for ‘shalat’ (ritual pray) for Moslems (langgar alit), a meeting room (jineng arum) functioning as a canteen serving typical West Java dishes, the dwelling place of Sultan’s daughter (kaputren) functioning as an audiovisual room and library, the dwelling place for the sons of the Sultan (kaputran) functuioning as an Art Gallery, and a traditional house in the form of a house on stilts with bamboo plaited walls (bilik) and a complete set of household articles.

Before entering the Pavilion complex, visitors will be welcomed by the symbol of the West Java Province Administration and two chopping knives (kujang) – the typical West Java weapon. After having passed the ‘Candi Belah’ (Candi Bentar), visitors will experience the beautiful and fresh natural scenery of the ‘Pasundan’.

The main building of the Kasepuhan Palace of the West Java Pavilion consists of four rooms with their specific functions. The first room is the ‘pendapa’ (jinem pengrawit) originally serving as a place to assemble for the palace guards, whereas at the West Java Pavilion it serves as a place to perform traditional music (kecapi, suling, and degung) to welcome the visitors. On certain occasions, it used to display and exhibit handicraft products. The second room is the ‘Pringgodani’ room, a place where the Sultan holds meetings with his staff; while at the West Java Pavilion it is used as an exhibition room and to practice art. The third room is the ‘Prabyaksa’ room where the Sultan receives important visitors, whereas at the West Java Pavilion it is used to exhibit traditional costumes, traditional musical instruments (degung), wayang golek (wooden puppet), and handicraft exhibition of the entire West Java region, several ‘Sundanese’, ‘Parahyangan’ and ‘Sumedang’ wedding costumes, classical costumes, traditional costumes and modern creation costumes such as ‘baju kamper’, ‘pangsi’ and ‘jas tutup’ (jacket with stiff high collar and no lapels). The fourth room is the ‘Panembahan’, the Sultan’s study room and a place for the Sultan to take a rest in the afternoon. This room is arranged like the original one, presenting a number of heirlooms, an umbrella of grandeur and a ‘selendang embilan warna’ (a shawl of nine colors) symbolizing the Nine Wali or ‘Wali Songo’, nine Moslems religious leaders who spread Islam in Java, among others the picture of Sunan Gunung Jati, one of the ‘Wali Songo’ in the corner of the room.

The main building has a park with a pond and a waterfall visualizing the Tangkuban Perahu Mountain panorama and a miniature of rice fields to point out the beauty of West Java nature. At the rear side of the main building, there is a stage in the form of a horseshoe with a fishpond in the middle between the stage and the seats of the spectators. On Sundays and holidays, traditional art in the form of dances and songs are performed on this stage. Occasionally several traditional ceremonies from various region in west Java are performed here.

SOUTH SULAWESI PAVILION

One of the pavilion that cant be missed when tourist visit Taman Mini is South Sulawesi Pavilion. South Sulawesi has so many cultural things so no wonder that many foreign tourists visit this pavilion to admire one after the other the traditional ‘Bugis’ house, ‘Makassar’ and ‘Toraja’ (Tong-konan) house completed with the rice barns and a model of the ‘pinisi’ boat.

The first traditional house is a model of a king’s palace called ‘saoraja’, according to the Bugis tradition, ‘salassa’ or ‘balla lompo’ in the Makassar tradition. The house on stilts is rectangular in shape and divided into three rooms (lintang or lontang): the outside room (lintang ri saliweng) is used to receive the guests; the middle room (lintang ri tenguga) is the most sacred room and closed for the public; and the inner room (lontang in ladeng) functioning as the family bedroom. Next to the outside room is a waiting room (lego-lego) where the guests wait before they are invited to enter.

The decoration of the traditional Bugis house is carvings in the form of climbing plants with a ‘parereng’ flower, semanggi leaf and jasmine leaf design; carvings of animals, birds, cocks, cockatoos, waterbuffaloes with horns, pigs, running deer, dragons or garuda (eagle) – are placed at the ‘anjung bola’ (the front and rear section of the top of the house) ; also of the universe. The pattern of decorations denotes the social status of the owner.

At the Pavilion, the ‘saoraja’ is used to exhibit various South Sulawesi traditional cultural aspects among others traditional costumes of ethnic groups living in this region, the Bugis cloth, hunting equipment, forest products and various silver, cockle shell, bone and horn handicraft and objects of art. In the space underneath the house is displayed many kinds of sailing boats, with this kind of boats the ‘Bugis –Makassar’ ethnic group cross the seas.

The Tongkonan is a building on stilts, rectangular in shape, and well-known for the roof that has the form of a sailing boat or the water-buffalo’s horn. The floor (tallung lonta) has different levels; the north and south sections are higher than the middle section. The quadrangle staircase is at the right side of the house, below the floor or underneath the house.

Both the tongkonan and the rice barn are decorated in red, black and white with a fauna, flora and objects of the sky pattern. At first, the Toraja ethnic group only knew four kinds of carvings; carving of the sun (pak barre allo), a water-buffalo’s head (pak tedong), a cock (pak manuk londang) and a straight line (pak susuk). Later on it has been developed to about 150 kinds each of which has its specific name and meaning.

Imitation hills with holes are built next to the tongkonan, as the grave or burial place of the Toraja ethnic group; while in the front of it hangs a row of water-buffalo’shorns, originally proving that the house owner has performed a burial ceremony by sacrificing hundreds of water-buffaloes.

The Tongkonan at the pavilion is used to exhibit various Toraja cultural aspects such as household equipments, ceramics, handicraft products and a diorama of death ceremony. Moreover, the row of rice barns are used as stalls of South Sulawesi art and handicraft articles.

HAKKA MUSEUM

The Hakka Indonesia Museum located in the Chinese Indonesia Cultural park in Taman Mini is a round building with a diameter  of 45 meters, standing on 5,000 square meters of land, and consists of three floors. The round building replicates the traditional Tulou house of the Hakka in China. This museum was built to shows built the diversity in Indonesia and how we live together and respect each other.

The Hakka, who belong to a subgroup of the Han in China began migrating around the 18th century. Many arrived here together with Admiral Zheng He (in Indonesia better known as Cheng Ho), and started to settle first along the north coast of Java and later to other island in the archipelago. The Hakka are the largest ethnic group here, comprising 40 percent of Chinese descendents  in Indonesia.The Museum follows the history of the migration of the Hakka to Indonesia, their active participation in the struggle for Independence of Indonesia and their contributions in her development through the ages.

Displayed are artifacts and  heirlooms inherited from their forefathers who first came to these islands, their way of living, and their assimilation into the Indonesian community. Included are photographs of outstanding Hakka Indonesia personalities, among whom,  badminton star Susi Susanti, film director Teguh Karya, Minister for Tourism and Creative Economy, Mari Elka Pangestu and Deputy Governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, more popularly called Ahok.  

Other than that, visitors will be offered  by another Hakka culture and art such as traditional painting, steps for making traditional medicine and Hakka influence in Indonesia.

CHINESE CULTURAL PARK

Chinese Cultural Park was built in 2006 and Harapan Kita Foundation provided 4,5 hectares land for Chinese community who lives in Indonesia. Chinese Cultural Park is one vehicle that can demonstrate to the public that the tionghoa ethnic including its history and culture, is an integral part in the history and culture of Indonesia.The architecture of this park was based on Chinese philosophy, yin and yang that means bad and good things. For example, chinese people believe that if there is water, it has to be side by side with fire to make it balance. That’s why this park included some land and there is a pond at the back side. 

From the front side, visitors will be welcome by a grand gate that composed of 2 big pillars, which are the symbol of man and woman. There is also a lion statue that was belived as the vehicle for gods. At the center part, there is a gold globe above a pond and sometimes the pond will be moved due to Fengsui (a traditional believeness that regulate our behavior and determine our future).

You will also see some statues such as Kwan Kong, Kwan Im (Chinese goddess) and Sam Pek Eng Tay with its bridge. There is also a gazebo that shows chinese habit to relax along the pond or their yard. The Butterfly Lovers, or usually known as Sam Pek Eng Tay story is the oldest and most famous love story from China. The story was so moving and it was awarded as one of the greatest love story around the world together with Romeo & Juliet and Cleopatra & Marc Anthony.

HALELUYA PROTESTANT CHURCH

Haleluya Protestant Church is a protestant church that was built in 1973 and finished in 1975. It is located between Saint Catharina Catholic Church and Hindu Dharma Temple and in front of Jakarta Pavilion. 

This church was built to completed the six official religions in Indonesia and shows that Indonesian can live together and respect each other despite of different religion. This church offenly uses as wedding ceremony, easter celebration, Christmas celebration and other protestant religion. A regular Sunday service is held every Sunday for GPIB and Saturday for Advent.

That's all about my visit to Indonesia Miniature Park. Overall, I give a 8 point for this object and I really recommend you to come here while you're in Indonesia or wanting to learn about Indonesia even more. This large park will give a glance about Indonesia's province along with it's culture and especially art. It also shows the diversity of our people.

Please note that some of those pictures and explanations above is not mine. I took some of it from the internet for a better quality and explanation.

Thank you ;)