Touring Jakarta Getting To Know MH Thamrin, The Original Betawi Hero

JAKARTA - "Why did Soekarno give the name of a street in central Jakarta with the name Mohammad Husni Thamrin? The point is there must be something."

So said historian JJ Rizal in front of the Thamrin Statue, which marks the MH road. Thamrin in Central Jakarta. He said that when he was leading a historical tourism event by riding together in order to trace the heroes of the Jakarta floods, such as MH Thamrin and H. Van Breen, 16 February.

Through this event, participants who did not know MH Thamrin became open with this Dutch-Betawi crossbreed figure who was born in Jakarta, February 16, 1894.

Thamrin is a Betawi priyai. He is the son of Tabri Thamrin, a wedana. His grandfather was named Ort, a British citizen who owned a hotel in Petojo. Ort married a Betawi woman named Noeraini.

During his life, Thamrin was sensitive to his surroundings. The injustice that the Dutch saw to the indigenous people in Batavia, made him put up a body and defend them. Thamrin defended them on matters of kerosene price, road watering, green bean price, repairing villages, flooding problems, to water prices.

This struggle led Soekarno to make his close friend a street name. Soekarno and Thamrin were friends in discussions, struggles, stories and women's cases.

Furthermore, Thamrin's story can be found when tracing his place of residence on Wedana Street, his hangout in the Harmoni Building, his grave at Bivak Rubber Cemetery, Manggarai floodgate, Thamrin statue, and his museum in Salemba.

Right at 7 in the morning, in front of Gang Wedana in Sawah Besar, Central Jakarta, all the participants of the ride had gathered. This place is the residence of Thamrin. However, now it has turned into a place for dealers of auto parts and spare parts.

JJ Rizal said, people who come to Thamrin's house will have a deep impression. Some were happy, some were amazed, while some others described that every time they came to the Thamrin residence, they would be served expensive drinks such as wine. Unfortunately, Thamrin's house was gone because it was sold to help Indonesia's struggle at that time.

From Gang Wedana, the exploration continues to Harmoni intersection. Here, JJ Rizal introduced a place where Thamrin entertained himself from fatigue. That place used to be Societeit de Harmonie.

JJ Rizal also explained that at that time, Societeit de Harmonie was an exclusive club that not just anyone could enter.

"Only white people can enter, even if they are based on businessmen or officials. Only then can natives who have the status of being a priyai get access be able to do so," he said.

During this riding trip, questions and answers occurred. Many asked about the whereabouts of the Volksraad (people's council building), where Thamrin was based. The current Volksraad has changed to the Pancasila Building. In this place, said JJ Rizal, Thamrin often made speeches to influence Dutch East Indies officials to care about the fate of the natives. He also got the nickname, the Tiger Pulpit.

The journey was then directed towards the MH Thamrin statue, then continued to the Rubber Bivouac TPU, the place where Thamrin was buried. This tomb was designed directly by Bung Karno.

Thamrin died on January 11, 1941 after being ill for a long time due to house arrest. Allegedly, Thamrin's death was because a team of doctors from the colonial government who was supposed to treat Thamrin, made him even sicker. That is why the issue of Thamrin was poisoned by the colonial government on the surface. However, the Dutch Hidia government immediately issued an official report that Thamrin committed suicide.

Gowes continued to the Manggarai floodgate. Here, Thamrin's role in voicing the anticipation of the Jakarta flood was explained at length by JJ Rizal. Thamrin forced the colonial government to spend money on a canal system project headed by Prof. Ir. Hendrik van Breen.

Hendrik is an engineer who made flood control plans through the West Flood Canal, the polder system, and the East Flood Canal plans at that time. Even though the canal floods had freed Jakarta from flooding for several periods, because this program was not continued, Jakarta was flooded again. The creation of flood control for the east and west canals, with ideas dating back to 1913, was only fully executed in the 2000s.

This riding trip was finally over when all the participants entered the MH museum. Thamrin which is located in Salemba. The building, which has an Indische architectural style with typical Betawi house ornaments, was once the residence of Meneer de Has.

In 1929, Thamrin bought it to give it to an organization called the Indonesian Nationality Political Association (PPPKI). The building was also named the Indonesian Consensus Building.

This building played an important role in the birth of WR's Indonesian Raya national anthem. Supratman. In this place, the song was first played instrumentally, without lyrics.

Finally, the most memorable words from Thamrin are, "If the government doesn't have the courage to spend money to help the people, I will be the one who will spend money!" This was a serious threat from him to the Netherlands at that time.