Indonesia’s National Monument (Monas) is one of the bigger attractions in Jakarta, and I had never seen it. So, when my friend Joyce texted to see if I was up for an excursion into the city I took her up on it. Basically, Monas is a huge obelisk that commemorates the Indonesian independence movement.
The monument has a large area of park land around it, and we saw lots of folks just hanging out and picnicking in the shade on the way in. We were there on a Saturday, so there were all kinds of families out enjoying the day off.
To get to the monument itself, you have to go underground and through a tunnel that takes you back aboveground just outside the base. Around the outside of the monument are a series of reliefs that depict Indonesian history from before the arrival of Europeans, through Dutch colonization and the Japanese occupation of WWII, to modern day Indonesia. The reliefs have taken on some damage from exposure over the years, but it was still a pretty interesting representation.
Once inside the base, there is a history museum that is just a lot of dioramas representing various eras in Indonesian history from prehistoric peoples through the 20th century. Informational panels on each diorama are written in English and Bahasa Indonesia. The day we visited, hordes of schoolchildren were moving from diorama to diorama filling out some kind of assignment. The earlier scenes were fairly interesting, but by the time the mid-20th century came around they mostly showed people sitting at tables in meetings. Though it was a pretty old-school experience, it was nice to learn a bit more about Indonesian history.
Our entrance time to take the elevator up to the viewing platform finally came and we went outside on the lower level of the monument. Fortunately that area is shaded, because we still had a long wait until our number was called. Once we got up to the top, it was a pretty great view of the city. It was a fun day exploring another corner of Jakarta, with some learning packed in as well!
