The main point of East Jawa is located at the northern coast, in Surabaya: a rising industrial and commercial centre, and the second largest city in Indonesia. With it's three milion residents this factory-, and seaport city has developed into the economical capital of entire Eastern Indonesia. The seaport (
Tanjung Perak'e.g. Cape Silver ) is a crossing of trade between the eastern islands of the archipelago and the seaports in the west, a role which Surabaya filled for centuries already. Partly as a result of softening rules the industry as well as the service sector grew tremendously. The famous poor sight of the city is disappearing more rapidly, and is being replaced by that of a metropolis. It even looks like if it will get back it's important status of most important centre of trade and industry in the entire archipelago; a position it lost to Jakarta after the Second World War. In contrary to Jakarta, with it's mixture of cultures, Surabaya is an real Jawanese city. Other than In Solo and Yogyakarta, the Jawanese in Surabaya mainly originate from the
pasisir ( the coast, the bordr area ) and they belong on the whole to the
santri, a more orthodox stream in the Islam.
Original inhabitants are called
Arèk Suroboyo in Jawanese. They are free, proud and sometimes a little simpleminded. The city has a faster pace and a more cosmopolitan look on life than the hinterland, cultivated by centuries of contacts with traders from overseas.
People have little interest in the fuss and etiquette of the royal cities; Surabays is a commecial centere and it's society reasonable egalitarian. Surabaya has little to offer to tourists, but lovers of the sparkling and busy nightlife can enjoyt this city, especially when they look beneath the surface. Who really wants to enjoy the city has just to copy the middle class; a small walk to the evening market of the shopping mall. Public happenins are an extremely good moment to meet, at watch, other people.
The story of the shark and the crocodile
The name Surabaya originates from a stoey about a fight between
sura ( a shark ) and a
baya ( a crocodile ). In that fight they united and formed the character S, which can be found at the back of the Monument of the Heroes, on the city arms. Another explaination is
saya ing baya, a Jawanese proverb; 'brave in the face of fear'. With this the
ajèk Suroboyo are meant, which offered strong resistance against the fierce attack of sultan Agung. But just as well this proverb can be used fo the people who fought in the later revolution.
It's not exactly known when Surabaya was founded, but in the seventies the city council declared 31 May 1293 as the big dag. Historically this was the dat at which the Chinese-Mongolian troops were conquerred by Raden Wijaya and he founded the empire of Majapahit. The harbour developped from a small village at the banks of a brackish side-rivers of the Brantas. Maybe this is a declaration of it's Chinese name, Sishui, which means 'muddy water'. Chinese sources report that the city was 'the gate to the mighty Brantas, the main route which leads to the inlands of Jawa'.
During the good period of Majapahid in the 14th century Surabaya had a lower position compared with the near seaports of Tuban and Gresik. Until the first half of the 19th century, the seaport of Pasuran even was bigger. The city got more fame when it held strong against the aggresion of Mataram, Madura and the VOC threathened to invade Surabaya, in the 17th and 18th century. Leaders of resistance like Trunojoyo ( a disloyal prince from Madura ), Sawunggaling ( a local hero ) and Untung Surapati ( a rebelling Baltic slave ) brought huge losses to the Dutch and Mataram.
Eventually the city was lost to the VOC, except of the quarters near the harbour where European, Chinese and other Asian traders lived, it was no more than a Jawanese kampung until the turn of the century, houses of wood and bamboo. As many other cities on Jawa Surabaya got it’s colonial looks only after 1900; big stone buildings besides green and wide lanes, most of the times close to the kampungs, when they didn’t have to dissappear. Even now people speak about ‘the people from the wide lanes’ and from ‘the people from the small alleys’.
City centre
Just like Jakarta, Surabaya developed around the harbour, and gradulately grew southwards. A visit to the city normally starts in the new commercial and governmental centre around Jalan Tunjungan and Jalan Pemuda, a fast developing, smaller version of Jalan Thamrin - Sudirman - Gatot Subroto, the main archer in Jakarta.
Point of recognition dfor Jalan Tunjungan is Hotel Majapahit, the former ‘Oranje Hotel’. At this place the flag-incident took place in September 1945, the spark in the revolutionair barrel of gunpowder of the city. With just across Hotel Sarkies, at Jalan Embong Malang, the corner forms the lost colonial history, with at the eastern side the former private club Deutsche Verein at Jalan Gentengkali, now known as Balai Sahabat.This place offers a good Chinese restaurant, also accessible for non-members. At this street is also the cultural centre, Taman Budaya for expositions and shows. In the morning students practice classical dances. The complex was used for the
bupati ( regent ) until the seventies.
At Jalan Dolog is a statue of king Kertanagara in his incarnation of the Bhuddha Asokbhya. The from Malang originating statue was taken to Surabaya earlier. The feet carried the date 1289. Jawanese still honour the statue, that is locally know as ‘
Joko Dolog’ ( fat boy ).
More to the east, at Jalan Pemuda, is Grahadi, the official residence of the governor of East Jawa, once the stately residence house. From the road the back of the building can just be seen; at the front if a small canal. In this quarter transport over water was very common. The statue of Soerju, the first governot of East Jawa, dresses up the park across Grahadi.
East of this is the Balai pemuda, built in 1907 as the
Simpang Club. It was rebuilt into a luxury cinema and exhibition room of Surabaya. More north, in the middle of a traffic island is a statue of Sudirman, commander-in-chief of the Indonesian revolutionary troops. Here is also the city house, built by the Dutch, which offered a view over the Taman Surya park. The nearby ice-cream salon Zangrandi with it’s colonial air it’s a part of the city. More to the east at Jalan Pemuda is one of the biggest malls in Southeast Asia. Across are food stalls and the river market at Jalan Kayoon; you can buy semi precious stones, in gold and silver if you like.
Further south, at the other bank of the river is Jalan Irian Barat, at night a famous place for transvestites, the only place in entire Indonesia where the
waria( fake woman ) are illegal. Along Jalan Keputran ( Prince Street ) many vegetable traders collected at night, futher south, where Jalan Keputran changes into Jalan Dinoyo, is a Chinese temple where on special Thursdays
wayang kulit shows are given.
Old city
North of the triangle Jalan Tunjungan - Pemuda - Kaliasin are the old quarters of Surabaya. On Jalan Pahlawan is the Monument of the Heroes (
Tugu Pahlawan ) dating back to the fifties. It is built for the bravery of the youghts of Surabaya during the battle of Surabaya. At this famous Surabaya got it’s nickname ‘City of Heroes’. East of the square is the colonial governors house which partially dates back to the thirties.
From here the route goed back in time. Walk towards the north over Jalan Veteran ( used to be Jalan Niaga, the colonial buildings date from the 1920’s ) to
Jembatan Merah, the Red Bridge, in the centre of the former trading quarter. The color of the bridge came from the fight between the shark and the crocodile, at least, that’s the story.
Jalan Kembang Jepun ( ‘Japanese Flowers’ ), east of the bridge got it’s name because of the houses with Japanses prostitutes (
karayuki-san ). Now it’s a business district, and also the centre of Surabaya’s big Chinese quarter. Just south of the Kembang Jepun at Jalan Sompretan is the Hok An Kiong temple, built in the 18th century by Chinese traders to honour Mazu, the proctection goddess of the sailors.
The only pure confucian temple of Indonesia, built in 1907, is at Jalan Kapasan. The Sunday mass is similar to the Christian mass; this influence dates back to the turn of the last century when Chinese students of Chinese missionaries reformed the population.
In this neighborhood is also the Klenteng Bukuh ( Hok Tik Hian ) where daily shows are given with handdolls from Fukien (
potehi ). The accultation is big, the players - which speak Hokkien - and the musicians who are mainly Jawanese. The parking attendant who sells the dolls is from Madura.
An even more crazy example of the blending of religion and culture in Surabaya is Jalan Panggung, where old Chinese totok's are besided Islamic houses of prayer. Walking among other people you will arrive at
Pasar Pabean, an enormous market where traders trade in goods from the countryside, seafood, spices, perfumes and semi gems, like it has gone fot centuries.
Further north the Jalan Kyai Mas Mansyur takes you directly to the past of Surabaya: the heart of the Arabic quarter, whith a kashba-air. The gate which dresses up Jalan Ampel Suci leads to the Mesjid Sunan Ampel, the oldest mosques of the city. The grave of the namer of the mosque is at the back, Sunan Ampel, one of the nine legendaric heroes
wali which the Islam took to Jawa in the 15th century.
Just north of the Arabic quarter is the historical harbour Kali Mas. For centuries it was visited by sailboats from all over the archipelago. Even now the rubust
pinisi-ships from South Sulawesi can be seen here. They anchor on the two kilometre wide quay west of the modern seaport area Tasnjung Perak, not open for public.
Jalan Kapasari ( bach to Jalan Kapasan and then right ) has a flea market which attracts many vistors on Sundays.
More south the street is names Jalan Kasumabansa; here is the THR, Surabaya's centre of shopping and enjoyment for the big audience. Covered- and outside theathres bring traditional dance, and modern music to ythe visitors. Besides is Taman Remaja Surabaya ( Surabaya Youthpark ), a non stop pasar. Very interesting is the show of transvestites which is held on Thursday evenings. With their best voices they sing songs on which young guys try to dance.
Suburbs
At the most remote Southeastern corner of the city, at the end of Jalan Kenjeran, is
Pantai Ria Kenjeran, Kenjeran Beach. There is no beach in the area and the new amusement park has changed into a love hotel, but in the old park there certainly is good seafood for sale. It's in the middle of the Madurese fishing villages, which hold birding contests as a popular game of gambling; illegal, but inexstinctable.
South and West of the Kenjeran, past the campus of the
Institut Teknologi Surabaya ( ITS ), is a flamboyant nouveau riche quarter. On scheduled times the Indonesia-America Friendschip Association holds art expositions. At Toko Miroto good collections of arts and crafts can be found.
At the Southern egde of Surabya, besides Jalan Raya Darmo, the Dutch built an elegant quarter at the start of the 20th century. At Jalan Taman Mayangkera 6 is the Mpu Tantular Museum, placed in the house of the former representative of the '
Javaansche Bank' ( Jawanese Bank ). It has a small but important historical and archeological collection. Across the museum is the
Kebun Binatant, one of the oldest and biggest zoo's in Southeastern Asia, with among the animals the Komodo Dragons and river dolphins from Kalimantan.
The way back to the centre takes you along Jalan Diponegoro to the busy crossing with Jalan Girilaya. Here is the famous brothel Dolly's, named after the lady whi started the sex-industry in this quarter in the 1960's. This red-light-disctrict gives a sobering view on the blending of normal housed, houses of prayer and brothels.
