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PLAIN TEXT : Do you know when hotel Indonesia was built-- rhow? Who open edit and when? Who were its architects? The answers to these questions, and just about any other you might care to ask about jakarta's history, can been found in the new three-volume ensiklopedia jakarta: culture and heritage, launched Wednesday night at city hall by the Jakarta cultural and museum agency. The encyclopedia is currently only available in bahasa Indonesia and is not for sale. Just 500 copies have been printed and will be distributed to schools and libraries. jakarta's history and cultural sites, important figures, literature, art, environment, architecture and even food are covered in the three volumes, delivering interesting insights to the social past of the city. The hotel Indonesia in central jakarta, for example, has a large entry dedicated to its history. H.I., as the hotel is more commonly known, was the first luxury international hotel in indonesia. It was built in 1959 using reparation funds from japan. soekarno, president at the time, officially opened the hotel on aug.5,1962. American architects abel and wendy Sorensen designed the hotel in the then popular international style. During itsheyday before the new order era, H.I. was the only building in the city not to lose power during black outs. And at the beginning of the new order, it was popular with the wealthiest people in the city and became the main meeting place of jakarta's socialites. The java room, the hotel's restaurant, was famous for its food, including traditional black tubruk coffee, barramundi steaks and rice porridge. It was the sort of place that people dressed up to go to--dresses, suits and batik shirts were the code. In the mid '70s the hotel was where people went to watch western movies, which had been banned under the old order regime. But the hotel is just one of hundreds of topics in the encyclopedia, which comes with both color and black and white illustrations. "these books are the first of their kind. Hopefully they will be useful. We are distributing them to media companies, educational institutions, cultural institutions, the national library and many others, "said Jakarta cultural and museum agency head Aurora Tambunan at the launch. She said the schools in Jakarta that were ranked the highest academically would receive copies of the encyclopedia and added that the city administration, which holds the books 'copyright, had helped the agency by providing funds, researchers and writers." This first edition is only available exclusively(fromus). But hopefully in with these condedition we will be able to cooperate with an outside publisher and sell the books commercially," Aurora said. "we know we must have made some mistakes, such as typographical errors, in the books, so these condedition will be much better, "she added. She said it was hoped the encyclopedia would motivate historians and researchers to work harder. Governor sutiyoso said in his speech at the launch that betawis needed to be more involved in their traditional culture or it would become extinct. Headed that he thought some of their cultural symbols, such as ondel-ondel, the human figures meant to ward off bad luck, needed to be improved. "why do(ondel-ondel) have to look so ugly? "he said. willeme.meulenberg, the newly appointed deputy director of erasmushu is in jakarta, said the encyclopedia would be a significant addition to the foundation's library.

"Although I can't read bahasa indonesia, I know that many(other)dutch can. These will be wonderful for those who are interested in indonesia's past and the netherlands history in jakarta, "he said.