Malang, (malangkota.go.id) – As a city with minimal natural tourism, Malang City continues to boost the number of tourist visits from other sectors, such as heritage tourism or from historical places. This time one of them is through the Sukun Nasrani Public Cemetery (TPU) or better known as the Londo or Dutch cemetery.
The reason is, in the tomb which is estimated to have existed since 1920, there is a lot of history that has not been exposed. Regarding this, on Friday (17/6/2022) the Heritage Environmental Governance Communication Forum (FKTKLH) was inaugurated. Muhammad Imam Samsul Arifin as the chairman of this forum said that later it will inventory various histories, such as since the beginning of the cemetery, who were the figures and fighters who were buried, including the colonial soldiers who were buried in this tomb.
So, he said, from this Londo tomb it can be a historical tour and or education for the nation's generation. "A number of parties, such as historians, cultural figures and heirs' families if there are still any will be involved so that the results of the inventory are more optimal," added Imam.
And what may not be known by many people, he said, is that three times a year the Japanese Embassy holds a ritual of scattering flowers and praying together in the area of this tomb. "From this agenda, it will certainly add a strong source of historical references to be written down. No less interesting, because the architecture of this tomb building is very good, in the future there will be a tomb tour at night," continued Umam.
Another program is to strengthen bone coffee picking tourism. This tourism, which has been developed in the last few months, has begun to attract tourists, even though only domestic tourists. "In essence, we will try our best so that what we have programmed is realized well," said Imam.
"If our short-term program at this time, we will do related to the graves in the Londo cemetery that are outside the list. So like this, there are some graves whose traces are no longer visible. In this sense, if it fits some of the graves behind there are many old graves that we will explore, we will look for the data, if it is possible the heirs or family of the owner of the grave," he explained.
These various programs received a positive response from the Deputy Mayor of Malang, Ir. H. Sofyan Edi Jarwoko. When attending the formation of the forum, he advised that its management involve many parties. For example, tourism awareness groups, religious figures and local communities, so that it is more organized and they are also affected, especially in terms of economic improvement.
The bespectacled man added, of course, what is in this area, in this Sukun tomb, will be studied. The most important thing is that from the existing verification, the existing conditions, the system, of course, real steps will be taken in the future. So that everything is recorded and maintained properly in an orderly manner.
"This forum also needs to regulate how the activities here are and synergize with the Cemetery UPT. Because this is something like what I said earlier, luxurious, expensive, and so on, so it requires the participation of all parties, which ultimately gave birth to this forum," concluded the man who is familiarly called Bung Edi. (say/ram)
