Coming out from the so-not-rabbit hole, we were asked by the tour leader, “Are you guys feeling alright?” Nodding was our answer. Although that bravest candidate looked a bit disappointed expecting to find more or at least there was something in there.

We became friends then, this was the conversation leading our connection to it, “How do you get all the bravery?” I asked. She merrily answered, “I was exorcized once, I could see ghosts in the past, but now I can’t see them.”

I shook my head in awe. I spoke to myself, no wonder she assigned herself for a trip like this.

Bella Vista, The Crisis of Meaning

As this trip was arranged and paid as the assigned members wish, I didn’t know whether entering Bella Vista was free. It should be free. Like many other abandoned houses, Bella Vista is totally wounded, what makes it different from many others is that it is visitable. Before entering the place, we all stood solemnly in the front yard, there we witnessed remnants of the splendor. We were told that where we stood was where Soekarno delivered his speech after he administered Tugu square. Bella Vista served him as the guest house.

A group of teenage boys sat on their modified motorcycles, they made a fuss there just near the building where the part was entirely ruined. A middle-aged vendor, a man shares a space with Bella Vista, he sells something there, he promotes snacks. A little commotion in the front yard didn’t make Bella Vista merrier. Or, being surrounded by human beings doesn’t make this place cleaner. Like that lonely swing in Splendid Inn that doesn’t add value whatsoever for the site. Both look deserted and melancholy. Places that bear history with them are somehow melancholy, I believe all noble sites are touched with that.

But Bella Vista’s appearance is smaller compared to the massive Splendid Inn. This house has a large living room which leads to a dining area. The dining area, in the past, must be very awe-inspiring as it faces directly to the garden like how you imagine the grandeur of Victorian dining and gardens. But do not imagine it as the fine one, because in the present, the garden is ruined, it is now just a rectangular space full of weeds.

I do admit that Europeans are brilliant when it comes to architecture. Bella Vista is ruined now, but the downpours of sun rays wake this place, even some remote areas get a bit of share from the light. With the rays, I come to a profound realization that the past is always wakeful, since then I consider the past as the wisest time signal. I am not so prominent in interior designs and housing morphology but Bella Vista, I think is built like the letter U. Or maybe because the backyard is closed or demolished, so the area was not accessible, the thing is we entered the front and got out from another door in the front area.

Toilet, whether it was built in the past or not, stood horrendously next to the building, not far from where the teenage boys were hanging out. The area was filthy and the boys had no worries in the world whatsoever, I was being skeptical about how they messed around littering here and there.

There isn’t much to tell here except the disturbing vandalism, the collapsed wall, the ruptured windows, and the deformed balcony. The only meaning it could be derived is just the fact that the first president was here once. But would it be all? If, Soekarno didn’t visit Bella Vista, I believe it yields no story at all and soon would be demolished. Who knows?

The Commercialization of Terror

In the absence of life and color, Bella Vista and Splendid Inn conform to the most appalling thing of mankind; the visible world is formed with compassion, however the invisible spheres are formed in fright. H. P. Lovecraft warned us all with this common and indulging mistake, a mistake to fancy that horror is associated inextricably with darkness, silence, and solitude.

It is affirmed that darkness manifests itself from something remote, full of anger, resentful and revengeful. In fact, over time, darkness is man-made. From the moment Splendid Inn and Bella Vista were abandoned and left in ruins, that would be the first stage where darkness approached. The places look inviting for the ghost. Believe it or not, the abandonment is an act decided by the stakeholder itself that invites the devils. But ghosts, today, do not concern us, don’t they?

Ghost hunting or anything ghostly is a commodity. Therefore, people are mostly attracted to visit the sites due to the haunting narrative; a group of school boys and girls went there to take photoshoots, they wanted to get the Danur vibe. They are not the only ones. I believe people receive accumulated hysteria about the horror and therefore decide to visit the place. The more the place receives visitors, the more successful is the marketing campaign.

Hence, no renovation for Bella Vista and Splendid Inn, let alone renovations, the places are not swept or mopped, no staff assigned to clean the place. If an accident happens, let’s say the rotten plywood falls on the visitor’s head leading to serious injury, the first agent to blame is that the demon wants the soul. If not serious injury, the mild one, one gleam of injury is said to be our own mistake not to behave in the site. This judgment is hereditary. Thus, to start with a critical point of view about this market-driven man-made terror is like beating against the solid metal. 

I do believe in ghosts, I also believe in the residual spirits which stay in the sites for the places are parts of their being and identity. I am a devout follower of Kisah Tanah Jawa and a seasonal lover for Jurnal Risa. I am fully aware that certain actions might lead to the anger of those spirits, for instance, if the stakeholder decides to clean the site or renovate, the invisible dwellers might revolt against it. But mankind isn’t a servant for the spirits. To balance the world a pact with the spirits should be made, otherwise there would be the possibility that they encircle the area, create an empire there. Then, the dark spirits do harm to the visitors. Like the visible world we live in, there should be politics too in the underworld, right?

There is also another factor wallowing in the fate of Splendid Inn and Bella Vista. Renovations mean changing, although the efforts also include preserving the place the way it looked in the past, renovations mean replacing materials anew. Then, this concern; renovations mean a threat to genuineness.

Now, this is fun, this notion of genuineness is fun. Let’s imagine Splendid Inn and Bella Vista’s ruin as a person suffering from cancer. The person is famous for cancer, people are impressed with the story of the person’s battle and survival. But cancer isn’t worshiped, the admiration is rooted from the cure process. Just because a person is famous for the disease, does it mean that the person is less genuine when she or he is cured? All the ruins, the collapsed attic, the tattered balcony, the blasted windows and doors, aren’t these all but a disease in once a perfect body of building in the past?

I know, I know Bella Vista and Splendid Inn were built by the country’s arch enemy, by the colony. I know they are physically less precious than the crystal goblets of Persian sherbet. But, heritage deserves preservation, if not renovation at least cleanliness, like a soul deserves a nourished body to live in. Couldn’t all of us stop this commercialization of terror? In fact, in the end I couldn’t help much. Disney must really hate to hear this but, some lives are messily ever after.

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There’s a stairs leading to the second floor in the area where the ticket was sold. This red-painted, splintered stairs is left just that. Imagine if you are tripped there and die funny. Imagine a sudden accident; the stairs break and collapse and then you are trapped in the second floor until God knows for how long. I can tell you that today’s Splendid Inn isn’t preserved for the visitors, it is for the ghost, the ghost doesn’t need stairs.

It was even scarier when my mathematical brain cells work; I weigh 54 kg, we were around 8 visitors with weight ranged from 50 to 60 kg, let’s take median 56 kg times 8 visitors, equals 448 kg weighted upon the old rustic stairs. I tell you, readers. I don’t want to live long but I too don’t want to die like this. Again, what’s the 10.000 rupiah for? There’s probably an argument coming that Dutch architecture is far stronger than you think, but it is vital to note that no matter how flawless a building is built, there’s a durability. 

Splendor Swallowed by Chaos

I believe there’s a brink of restoration in 1950, post-independence of Indonesia. The inn was used as the center of administration for a Japanese colony, in 1950, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Airlangga University Surabaya (UNAIR) had the right for the building and restored it for lecturers’ guest house and university classrooms. But the rights shifted again, now it is owned by Malang State University (UM). Now we know, to whom it may concern, the stakeholder responsible for the building.

Believe it or not, I suggest you should believe this; Splendid Inn was renovated in 2015. In the year where Pribumi has all the freedom, in this economy, how come few parts are scattered, decayed, and ruined as if it has never been touched since the 1900s? The second floor just above the ticketing area is a medium-sized hall. It is empty; no furniture or whatsoever. The only sightseeing is windows and a door. There is a balcony leading to the sight of an old mango tree where one of the barks is hanged by a horror-struck swing. See, Indonesian horror scenarios are always predictable; a tree and a swing. Again, why is the swing there, to whom shall it entertain?

Upon leaving the building, I felt relieved about moving on from the stairs. But what waited then, remained unfathomable; it was like experiencing things outlandish and at the same time…whimsical. The second site we visited was this open area where cannons are laid bare and brazen in the yard. I believe they were just artificial, they couldn’t be real cannons. Besides, this place was an inn and university classrooms. I wonder why most sites entice paradoxical things like those Robocop and Ironman figurines in the south of Rampal field.

We went on to the buildings behind, the notorious areas, the haunted ones, the ones where Jurnal Risa’s team got possessed by the demons. Let me briefly describe; it is the most wicked dwelling in all meridians. Was it because I felt haunted? No. It was threatening. The roof gable was mesmerizing as it signifies the key European housing style. But from the rake to its very foundation looked intimidating.

We marched to the second floor, we walked upstairs with a safer staircase but still the steps were all dirty. The first sight was a corridor, so far this area was the worst. The bats might have built their empire in the attic, because it crumbled. Their poop scattered all around the floor. There is also a thick scent of termite combined with dirt. Trust me, Ariadne (In Greek mythology, Ariadne boasted her weaving talent to Goddess Athena, she was then cursed as a spider, weaving in the darkest corner of the world) wasn’t cursed in Greek, she is in Splendid Inn all along, all this time.

This is a cosmic heart breaking; rotten plywood hung, hazardous vine entangled, mud-looking dirt scattered not only in the floor but also in the wall, I mean how can they reach the wall? Serial killers must really love it. I even accidentally found a young butterfly trapped behind the window glass, it struggled to bang itself in the mirror thinking that it pursued the brighter and greener world. But I couldn’t help it. My mother’s voice rang in my ear instantly, “Do not touch or meddle, move in or move out things or beings in the site. Those could be the toys, things entertaining the ghosts.” This is triggering though, Goddess Athene made attempt to save Odysseus from the Great God’s curse—in Homer’s Odyssey it is narrated that Goddess Athene felt sorry about the Odysseus’ struggle to sail the world with a curse of never returning home—but I couldn’t even help a single soul, the butterfly.

“Attack” by Something Secret

I walked through the corridor, tip-toeing (although I wore shoes), and found a stairs leading to the darker part of the inn; the third floor. I asked the tour guide, “What’s in there? Could I go there?” The tour guide said, “That’s the third floor, you may go there but I couldn’t be there for you?” I was shocked. I asked, “Why?” She gave me the short answer, “Why else!” After a few days I looked up on the internet and watched Jurnal Risa’s edition in Splendid Inn. I understood then, the area was where the two ghosts dwell; the lady in white and the soldier. 

We didn’t go further than that. But we marched downstairs in the final part of the route. There are speculations denoting that there was a secret door used as an escape during dire situations (raids and wars), there was a secret tunnel leading to SMA Tugu. But no one dares to find out. I understand why. I see smaller doors, not even a single window present, smaller passageways and stairs, enough for one person. If I walked there in a team, we cannot walk side by side so it is easier to predict who will die first in this journey.

I was enticed by the ‘secret tunnel’, the tour guide said, “It was probably in there,” pointing her hand towards one of the passage ways. She could only use her finger, she couldn’t lead us there for the same reason. But my curiosity is killing me. I’m a logic-driven person, I believe that as long as I behave, nothing bad will come after me. So I pledged her permission. Until…she said yes.

True, logic-driven but I still believe in ghosts, although I never see one. Fortunately, I wasn’t alone, there were three other visitors who demanded the same thing. We went there with salam and basmalah, I even said excuse me and bowed for it throughout the passage way. Until, the abrupt gust of something I don’t know what crept my back. It didn’t feel like a hand or a body, whatever on my back was, it felt heavy, like a burden, it was as cold as Satan’s hoof. I was short of breath a little bit. I held this sudden strike and took a photo of it, I believed it was clear but at home after the journey the photo ended up blurry.

(to be continued)

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The haunting and daunting Bella Vista and Splendid Inn. No windows are open here. If there are, it might be due to natural causes of rotting and decaying. Otherwise, they break open due to vandalism; only the devils know the culprit. The entrance door is wide open, but this openness soon after you bring yourself inside both places makes you realize that the two are shutting themselves off to the world, uninviting and unwelcoming.

A stoic friend of mine, Wildan Habibi, shockingly catechized me a few hours after I visited Bella Vista and Splendid Inn. Whereas, he never meddled with my business before. “Why in the mother earth do you visit those Gomorrah-looking places, all for what? Brown study?”

Even a few Instagram friends of mine rang me to inform me that Jurnal Risa visited Splendid Inn (Wisma Tumapel). They vigorously bombarded me with the YouTube link, adding spice to their hysteria that Splendid Inn is so ungodly that Hades himself will freak out to see the demon of his own making.

But, I still participated in a group tour led by Jelajah Malang with a tour guide, Dini Rachmawati. The tour isn’t partially dedicated to Bella Vista and Splendid Inn visits. It was a walking route that stopped at more than four destinations. However, I just want to pour my attention in this writing only on Bella Vista and Splendid Inn; the two buildings so far as I perceive, yield an odd philosophy. 

Euroclydon of Dutch East Indies

Bella Vista and Splendid Inn have all the features of a building; doors, windows, hall, park, roof, corridor, balcony, kitchen, bathrooms, and all, but all these features are dead as stones. In most resources that I gather and based on the tour guide’s narrative point of view; history is to blame for the notorious dysfunctionality. 

In Malang, Deandelsboulevard (now Kertanegara Street) stretched from the train station area to Coenplein Jan Pieterszoon (now Tugu Street, an area that covers Bundaran Tugu or Bundaran Jan Pieterszoon), this zone is said to be the center of entertainment for the absolute Dutch aristocrats where no Pribumi was allowed to set foot unless they were on slaves’ duty. Such a Charing Cross of London, in East Indies, East Java, Malang, the Dutch made an official settlement in 1767 and cloned their architectural prowess as well as lifestyle here.

Pribumi lived in a ghetto, in suburban areas, a place truly remote and excluded from the Dutch government’s urban planning and surely, the entertainment. The Dutch government’s rule and opprobrious social class made it clear that their norms were made immutable like the law made by Medes and Persians. Dutch East Indies’s afdeling, or an administrator, or assistant resident was made official to rule the area in 1824. Since then, the Dutch population growth added with the glaring industrial opportunity radically changed Malang. In 1879, the train station was operated for the first time to distribute crops. Later, Malang became Kotapraja in 1914.

Bella Vista was built three years earlier than Splendid Inn and seven years earlier than the town hall. It was built in 1920. What was it? Was it a house back then, or an office? I have never heard of such things called exemplary in urban planning. Bella Vista, as a part of Bouwplan I (the first stage of Dutch colonial’s urban planning), was built for an example for all the buildings in the area. Perhaps the physical example was shown for the construction slaves, how impossible it was to bring the slaves to Europe to get the look of buildings’ shape, to show them that, “this is our taste and this is what you should bring to the table.” 

The prominent Splendid Inn, built in 1923 with the look of a Dutch home, was a hotel. It was owned by CC Mulie. However, 19 years later, on March 7, 1942 Japanese officially occupied the area, took over every layer of governance and life, and changed the working class structure with Japanese terms.

Change wasn’t everything, executions of the remaining Dutch and the rebels occured massively in the area, the current Tugu Senior High School was once Dutch’s HBS (Hoogere Burger School) shifted from education place for the privileged to a slaughter house of mankind. Splendid Inn too, CC Mulie was no longer the owner of the place, whatever belonged to the Dutch, during this time, was taken over by the Japanese; the buildings and the people. 

Power contests are getting entangled in this part, Japanese whose arms, souls, and faith were sworn to help Indonesia’s revolution to the point that the country found its independence, was all a lie. For as far as this narrative is concerned, the Japanese got weaker after World War II, a door for the Dutch to return to Indonesia and seize everything that once became their source of glory. Dutch’s Operation Product 1 in 1947, against the young nation, occupied Surabaya and their next target was Malang. That time on July 22, 1947, grim reapers marched to the town, harvesting the souls.

Ashes for Unfallen Colony

Lawang was the first area subdued by Dutch Operation Product, in a critical situation, a strategy needed to be made; if it wasn’t by arms, it should be by pride. Urban Guerillas, Student’s Armies (Tentara Republik Indonesia Pelajar, TRIP) burned 1000 or more Dutch’s buildings. What were once Dutch’s administration offices, inn, and houses turned into flaring flames. They cut down electricity and water source to stop the building from functioning and from the Dutch army to shelter.

Scorched-earth is a tactic and a military strategy to put the enemy in the grievest deprivation. When talks didn’t yield repentance of imperialism, fire was the only agent to preach the truth in face of falsehood. This was all for it, a tactic used to tarnish the most imperial, the unfallen Dutch East Indies.

The buildings were then critically destroyed and burned, but surely, they weren’t projected for annihilation. The minute I stood after passing the road that separates Deandelsboulevard and Coenplein Jan Pieterszoon, to the point where Bella Vista and Splendid Inn laid bare and wounded, I felt lost in the infinite series of heritage left in abandonment. I could grasp no further with the narrative denoting that it was an inn and that is all. I felt a ruffling surge of emotions, realizing that in this situation; history couldn’t penetrate the thick haze of the present. 

Splendid Inn: The Most Wicked Dwelling in All Meridians

My mother, discerning that I develop bizarre interests in things archaic, warned me that I have to behave in the sites. It is not, above all, the history that becomes the sole concern. Beware of the ghosts, do not wear something red or green. Do not visit the place when you are on your period. Do not say something bad, not because that is inappropriate, but because it may insult or attract the demon.

There, the moment I entered both Bella Vista and Splendid Inn, I felt this artificial chills: what’s waiting for me behind those anachronistic doors, who’s waving on that tight-closed window, and… yes, who’s following me? 

Strangely, let me be honest with you, isn’t rooted from how the place is scaring me but from the external prejudices about the place. These sort of feelings then validated after hearing the tour guide say, “There are few areas that are considered to be densely haunted, you may go there but if something happened, we aren’t held responsible.” Somehow, it’s the philosophy of all tour guides in the world that safety and knowledge are instruments they hold supreme.

The visitors have to pay for 10.000 rupiah to explore Splendid Inn; few areas are locked, few areas are open but inaccessible, and lastly few areas are open but for the love of God you’d better not dare. It is, to be honest, killing me after looking at the ticket area; do not imagine a reception place, it was just a chair, a table, and a man sitting there. 

Behind him, there’s plenty of instant coffee hung by the rope, behind the instant coffee there’s a bed with the sight of bed bugs civilization. The man, he doesn’t at all look like he is a staff. He looked homeless with all that coffee and bedding situation. Seriously, why was the bed in there?

(to be continued)

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