Quel primo segnale a Bandung

Interessantissima, la rievocazione che oggi il Jakarta Post pubblica sull'80esimo anniversario delle trasmissioni in onde corte verso le Indie olandesi. Da leggersi tutto d'un fiato, sperando che sia possibile (forse sul sito di Radio Nederland?) ascoltare qualche registrazione d'epoca. Leve de Koningin!

Radio connection cherished 80 years on

Features News - Friday, November 16, 2007
Yuli Tri Suwarni, Contributor, Bandung

"Wij sluiten nu. Vaarwel tot betere tijden! Leve de Koningin!" (We are ending now. Farewell until a better time. Long live the Queen). These were the last sentences uttered by the announcer of NIROM (Nederlandsch Indische Radio Omroep Maatschappij, the Netherland-Indies Radio Broadcasting Company) on March 8, 1942.
These sentences are recorded in documents of the history of radio broadcasts in Indonesia as a farewell from the Dutch-Indies colonial power in Indonesia.
But the "better time" referred to by the NIROM announcer did not come to pass. The Dutch colonial power was replaced by the Japanese military administration and then, on Aug. 17, 1945, Indonesia proclaimed its independence.
The historical traces of the radio broadcast that first "connected" Indonesia and Holland were recorded in Bandung. On Saturday night, the 80th anniversary of this relationship was celebrated in a small party at the Savoy Homann Hotel, Bandung.
Han Harlan, the regional representative of RNW (Radio Nederland Wereldomroep) for Indonesia, said the date of the anniversary celebration was eight months later than the date on which the short-wave radio relationship between Holland and the Dutch-Indies colonial relationship was established.
The trial short-wave radio broadcast, transmitted through a Philips-made transmitter under the code of PCJJ (Papa Charlie Juliet Juliet) from Philips Laboratoria, Eindhoven, Holland, was clearly received by Ir de Groot -- a Dutch telecommunications expert domiciled in the Dutch Indies -- on March 11, 1927.
This first short-wave broadcast could be heard in Bandung regency, to be exact in Cangkring village at the foot of Mount Malabar, about 100 kilometers to the south of downtown Bandung.
Cangkring has become an important historical witness to the establishment of radio and telegram communications between the Dutch-Indies administration and European countries in 1917. Later the Dutch-Indies administration decided to set up a radio transmitter using a tube lamp.
Unfortunately, the building that housed the transmitter's antenna in Cangkring has been demolished, leaving only a pool of water in its place. The pool, now neglected, used to be the place where the power required by the radio transmitter was generated.
Nina Lubis, a historian of Padjajaran University, said the 750-meter-high trasmitter's antenna in the valley of Mount Malabar was then the tallest of its kind in the world, as in those days a transmitter's antenna was on average only 350 meters high.
This antenna also marked a new chapter in history as it shortened the communications between Indonesia (then known as the Dutch Indies) and Holland -- a distance of about 12,000 kilometers.
"According to historical documents, a Dutch lieutenant riding a horse from Batavia (now Jakarta) to Bandung would need six days. He would arrive in Bandung after passing Cibinong, Megamendung and Cianjur. Meanwhile, a journey from Batavia to Surabaya would take four to six months," said Nina, who, during the evening marking the celebration of the anniversary the Dutch Indies radio broadcast, was asked to narrate the story of the radio connection between Holland and Indonesia.
De Groot was an important figure as he was in charge of the construction of a telephone transmitter in three weeks to enable Queen Wilhelmina to greet her subjects in the Dutch Indies on June 3, 1927. "That was the first radio telephone conversation using a short wave between Holland and the Dutch Indies," Nina said.
In memory of this historical moment, the then Bandung mayor, B. Coops, assisted by architect C.P. Wolff. Schoemaker, put up the Tjitaroem Plein (Citarum Square) monument behind Gedung Sate in Bandung municipality.
This monument is in the shape of half a globe with the statues of two naked men facing each other on its two sides. A fish pond surrounded this monument. One of the statues depicted a man shouting, while the other, a man cupping his hand to his ear.
The monument symbolized the disappearance of communication distance on earth thanks to the establishment of radio and telephone communication. Unfortunately, to the laymen, who did not fully understand the symbolism behind this monument, it was often referred to as Bloote Billen Plein (Bare Bottom Square), because from afar you could see only the statues of two men with their naked buttocks.
"This historical monument was demolished in the 1950s as it was considered indecent," Nina said.
In the 1960s, Istiqaman Mosque was built on the site where the monument used to stand, seemingly blotting out the memory of Bloote Billen Plein.
Following the suggestion of de Groot, Philips later set up a broadcasting company called Philips Omroep Holland Indie (PHOHI). "With this international broadcasting, Holland was orchestrating cross-continental broadcasting earlier than BBC World Service," Harlan said.
This maiden radio broadcast did not contain political reports but was dominated by entertainment and music for the Dutch living far away from home. NIROM itself came into being after 1934 when the Dutch Indies administration issued a radio law. With the assistance of the postal, telegraph and telephone service, NIROM was able to improve the quality of its broadcasts so that it later had its own relay stations and telephone connection. NIROM also broadcast to Bandung, Sukabumi, Cirebon, Tegal, Pekalongan, Semarang, Solo, Yogyakarta, Magelang and Surabaya.
Nina was of the opinion that the radio relationship was mutually beneficial to Holland, as the colonial power, and Indonesia as a colony. The radio station was established to allow the Dutch in the Dutch Indies to establish speedy communication with Holland.
"However, finally, Indonesians could make use of this radio station to obtain international information and in this way the broadcast improved the understanding of the Indonesians and spurred them to independence," Nina said.
Through a radio network in Bandung, the text of Indonesia's proclamation of independence could be broadcast for the first time to the world by Sakti Alamsjah at 7 p.m. on Aug. 17, 1945. Owing to the tight security posed by the Japanese soldiers, the text of the proclamation of independence could not be relayed to Bandung. The text, which was read out for the first time by Soekarno and Hatta, was dispatched through a courier from Jakarta, arriving in Bandung at 5 p.m.
"We are here today to commemorate those days from the past, symbolically through the pleasant memories of old radio broadcasts. But we must also look at the future, and explore the possibilities for cooperation between our countries which after all remain connected in so many ways," said Ad Koekkoek, deputy chief of Mission at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Jakarta, who was present at the celebration.
Until now, Koekkoek said, about 5 percent of the Dutch continued to have family ties with Indonesia. Therefore, the Dutch embassy in Jakarta is the largest Dutch embassy in the world. The Indonesian language used in the broadcast through Radio Nederland of Indonesian Section (Ranesi) -- which went on air for the first time in 1947 -- is the second language after Dutch.
Ranesi is now relayed by 70 partner radio stations all over Indonesia, including Radio Maraghita in Bandung.
"One of Ranesi's partners outside Indonesia is Radio Taiwan International, most of whose listeners are migrant Indonesian workers," Harlan said.