Merdeka Square, Jakarta, Indonesia
Mon-Fri: 8.00am - 4.00pm, 6.30pm - 10.00pm
Sat-Sun: 8.00am - 4.00pm, 6.30pm - 12 midnight
Merdeka Square in Central Jakarta is one of the largest squares in the world, covering an area of 75 hectares. For want of a comparison, it's significantly larger than the renowned Tiananmen Square in China. Standing at the centre of it is the national monument, which is commonly referred to as its abbreviation: Monas.
Monas was erected to commemorate the struggle for Indonesian independence. Construction began in 1961 and it was first opened to the public in 1975.
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| The sign basically requests for you not to step on the grass as they want to live. |
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| The top part of the monument, which looks like a flame, is covered with gold foil. |
You can buy a ticket, or rather a prepaid card called Jakarta One in a bid to go cashless, at the tentage shown below. The entrance fee at the point of writing is Rp 20,000 (~S$1.90). In order to go up to the observation deck, you need to pay an additional Rp 10,000 (~S$0.95). My BFF and I didn't go for the latter as there was a very long queue. It's best to go early in the morning should you wish to see the panorama of the city from up there.
I heard that prior to 2016, the observation deck closes at 4.00pm daily. However, you can now enjoy a night view from 6.30pm onwards. Anyway, before entering the tower, do take a look at reliefs made of molded cement, which depict Indonesian history from the days of yore.
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| It all began with the various ancient empires occupying the archipelago. |
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| As impressive as they look, some statues have been damaged and decayed due to weathering. |
We'd love to see the rest of the reliefs, but it started to pour. Everyone immediately sought shelter inside the museum.
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| Spacious indeed! |
The museum features a total of 51 dioramas, telling us stories all the way back from prehistory to the New Order era of Soeharto's regime. I actually took photos of all the them, but I shall upload only some.
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| I'm pretty sure you know that famous temple, which is one of the seven wonders of the world. |
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| The Battle of Sunda Kelapa against the Portuguese fleet in 1527 |
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| The dioramas vividly capture the various wars that took place in the 1800s. |
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| Cultuurstelsel: forced planting initiated by the Dutch from 1830 to 1870 |
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| Kartini was a prominent heroine championing women's rights and education. |
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| Romusha: forced labour initiated by the Japanese from 1942 to 1945 |
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| Indonesia's independence was proclaimed on 17 August 1945. |
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| The first large scale Afro-Asian Conference took place from 18 to 24 April 1955 in Bandung. |
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| The result of the July 1969 referendum was the integration of West Papua into Indonesia. |
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| The last diorama is on the (now defunct) integration of East Timor into Indonesia in 1976. |
Given the queue, we also didn't visit the Hall of Independence, which stores the original text of the proclamation of independence.
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