RM in an Old Map

I got this map when I visited Bosscha house at 17 March 2012. There’s no creation date. It’s in Dutch. Someone who have the copy of this map said that the original one was made of an unusual piece of paper; the one that is not tearable and stored in Netherland.

Focusing on RM whereabout : (the megapixel of the original file enables me to zoom in with clarity)

RM as a Tech in a Colony

Rudolf Mrazek has written a book entitled “Engineers of Happy Land”. I browsed inside the book in Google Books and found a part that mentions Radio Malabar. However, first of all my attention was somehow stumbled on the phrase “Happy Land”. It took me some searches to find why it was called so. It’s here, saying :

“Sebagai sebuah bekas koloni, Indonesia tentu pernah dikonstruksi sebagai “Negeri Bahagia” (Happy Land) yang menjadi tempat impian bagi para pelancong dari Belanda yang ingin menghabiskan hari tuanya. Di tempat itulah, mereka dapat menikmati segala keindahan dan kemolekan sebuah bentang alam yang belum pernah dibayangkan sebelumnya. Dengan demikian, ada kenang-kenangan atau souvenir yang dapat dibawa pulang untuk dibagikan kepada anak-cucu sebagai akhir dari kisah hidup mereka yang halus dan mulus.”

My translation :

“As it was a colony, Indonesia was thought to be a “happy land”: a dream place for Dutch’s travellers who want to spend their old life. It is in such place that they could enjoy all the beauty and loveliness of a natural landscape they have never imagined before. Thus, that way they could afford to keep recollection or souvenir they carry back home for their children and grandchildren, as the end of their story of impeccable life.”

Then it is not hard to digest why it was “happy land”.

It looks like the book has been regarded to have some significance. A foundation called Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia, has translated the book to Bahasa Indonesia with the title “Engineers of Happy Land: Perkembangan Teknologi dan Nasionalisme di Sebuah Koloni”. Just another one to be in my list, to look for when I go to the bookstore.

Anyway, this is the part that mentions Radio Malabar available from Google Books. I suspect there could be another ones, but this is the only viewable :

While  it  provides an  interesting  description  of  the  interior of  Radio Malabar,  it also has a striking fault. Radio Malabar IS in the south of Bandung. It is nowhere near the Bosscha Telescope. Another mind catching is “Malabar Transmitter Tourist Guidebook”. So, was RM already a tourist destination in 1929 ? I wonder if the book really put the real title of the guidebook at the end of the pages.

The phrase “distance below” is suggesting the author’s own imagination. As he wrote that Radio Malabar is ‘above Bandung’, then it somehow could affords a look-below, … That’s what I could figure of Mrazek’s. If that’s really the case, then it is definitely wrong, and should lead us to suspect the other accounts on Radio Malabar might as well be less credible. However, he is paraphrasing the rest from that guidebook (containing some photographs). That’s emhasizing the importance and realiability of the source. I hope I could trace that guidebook somewhere.

First Meetup for Radio Malabar

Ever since I came to be interested on Radio Malabar, I had been doing it much virtually. I have set my mind on it, so I thought that seeing real people is a must as a proof that I am real :) It was yesterday that eventually I met with Mr. Djaka Rubijanto. He was in charge in Rancaekek receiving station as chief engineer. He was also the one who inisiated a discussion on Radio Malabar. Surprisingly, he invited Mr. Her Suganda, a senior Kompas journalist, the author of the book: “Wisata Parijs van Java” that I have written about here. It’s just so happened that Pak Djaka and Pak Her are related. They are in-law’s parents.

We had lunch at a restaurant next to Pak Djaka’s office :

We talked about Radio Malabar and some plans about it, as Pak Djaka offred me with “an opportunity”. And as we’re waiting for the rain to cease, the chit chat went beyond to everything about Bandung in the old time. Pak Her seems to be resourceful about it.

It was fun. At the same time it marked the future contents of this website with further details on Radio Malabar.

That Memorial Stone

One of the photos from Tropen Museum is about a memorial stone for its opening in 1923 :

It’s in Dutch of course. I try to translate it : (using Google Translate result as a reference)

On the 5th May 1923
Opened by :
Mr. Dirk Fock
Governor General of Nederland Indie
The Radio Station on The Malabar for the Public Traffic

This station was designed and built by :
Dr. Ir. Johannes Cornelis de Groot
on the Major Subdivision where under his Leadership
this Land was Built and for the First Time
the Mount Antenna, Devised by Him, was Made.

I am not sure if my translation to english is accurate, especially for the second part. I just make a guess of the sentence arrangement. However, we all should understand the meaning.

The stone was placed in the middle of the opening ceremony :

Anyone with fluency in Dutch, please help me for a better translation. You can do that in the comment section of this entry. Thanks.