Someone Has to Get Maluku Park Clean
Last Sunday, Bunda went to Tobucil & Klabs with her friend. Before that, they had some kind of business in Riau Street. Then, they went to Aceh Street on foot. They passed Maluku Park. Bunda’s friend said that this place looked spooky. She was right. That is how Bunda felt when she once visited this park before.
In Maluku Park or Mollukenpark or Molluken Park, there is a statue of priest H. O. Verbraak, S. J. He was a Netherlands East Indies army chaplain who had duty in Aceh from 1873 until 1907. He was known as a good person, a peacemaker, and a helper.
The story told that in 1918 a plane which took the pastor fell down near Maluku Park. The government of Netherlands East Indies then built his statue in 1922 to remind his merits. That’s all I know.
What’s in Maluku Park
Maluku Park looked a little bit eerie and quiet. Maybe because of the old trees. Meanwhile, Bunda was all alone that day and it was a cloudy day.
She stepped on Saparua Street and entered the park, anyway. She was welcomed by three persons: a little girl who was crying, a little boy who was sitting on the bench, and a mother who was calming down the little girl. They wore the old and faded clothes and they looked so dirty.
Who were they? She wanted to ask but something said, “Let it.” So, she continued this little adventure.
Garbage is So Problem in Maluku Park
Then Bunda felt something disgusted when taking some pictures of the park. There was rubbish everywhere. This park looked ignored. Whereas, we could do so many activities here, such as picnic, taking photograph, painting, writing, reading, studying plants, even children could running free.
Bunda could not stand, so she walked away. And she found a pool with a fountain in the middle. But there was just water. The dirty water, precisely. It was not a fountain anymore, after all. Even people used the fence around the pool as a clothesline. They were, maybe, three persons whom Bunda met when she had just entered this place.
Then Bunda found a couple. A student boy and a student girl, apparently. Didn’t know what they did. Maybe they were in love. Or, Bunda had heard something bad also: people used this park as a prostitution place in the night.
However, it’s not far away from the street. A few meters from where I was standing, the cars come and gone. There are few steps more to reach the gate. I was going to leave Maluku Park.
Say Goodbye to Maluku Park
Finally, Bunda backed to the “civilization”. But she guessed she had missed one thing very important. She re-entered the park to meet the host: Verbraak statue. He stood in the corner of the park. She wondered why did he face the street and not the park?
Maybe the statue did not want to see his “house” like that. It was dirty. I guessed, for Verbraak statue, watching the cars that come and gone is more interested than watching rubbish around.
“Bye, Mijnheer Verbraak,” Bunda waved him. “Really hope there’ll be no more rubbish around when I revisit you.”
Later days, Bunda have heard that there is an urban legend from the statue. It moves, the neck turns and the closed book that he hold is opened. She do not know whether it’s true or not. Well, maybe you want to prove it by yourself.
- photo by Indrie Vijayanti