Jakarta, IDM – The Malabar station complex contains remnants of the radio station’s former offices and employee residences, in front of the camping and parking area. An information board offers a variety of tourist attractions around Mount Puntang, including coffee tourism, waterfall visits, and cycling tours.
“Unlike those in times of yore, the streets are now well built and smooth, with few residential houses. This area used to be quiet, with only flickering lights around the Malabar radio station. The people used to call the radio station the ‘City of Puntang’,” mused Tomi T. Prakoso, a member of the Indonesian Amateur Radio Organization (Orari), in a recent interview with the Indonesia Defense Magazine in Bandung. Tomi has organized the 99th and 100th anniversaries of the Malabar Radio Station.
“The roads are now in much better condition as a local investor, as a third party, has been managing them. They are no longer muddy. We now have more road signs, while we used to have only one information notice board that I installed myself,” Tomi added.
The arrowhead-shaped pool
Tomi was right about the roads; they appear well-maintained. Visitors only need to walk a short distance from the parking lot, passing across a tiny bridge and a walkway, to immediately encounter a large pond in front of the station building. The shape of the pool remains, despite its now being dry and covered in wooden boards. The swimming pool’s foundation retains its solid Dutch qualities, with a shape like an arrowhead.
“Visitors call it the love pool now, and the pool is actually shaped like an arrowhead facing the Netherlands. This showed a connection was maintained by the Dutch colonizer from Bandung to the Netherlands; a radio transmitter station capable of sending wireless signals from Puntang to the Netherlands,” expressed Tomi, who is also a Communication Science lecturer at STBA Yapari-ABA Bandung.
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After the view of the pool, we can spot the remains of the Malabar radio station building, leaving a building’s foundation and several building walls, partly destroyed but some standing firm. There are no visible ruins at the back, but the building’s foundation still exists. The foundation area is approximately 50 meters toward the back. The radio station occupies a large area, as its transmitter is housed in one large building.
“The independence fighters in Bandung bombed this radio station. The communication was considered dangerous for Indonesia, as it was used for the Dutch interest. It was also used during World War II; the fighters were worried that the radio would fall into the hands of the Japanese,” said Tomi.
The road along the Gunung Puntang area, Pasir Mulya, Bandung Regency will take us back to the past, when the Dutch East Indies government built a radio station named “Malabar”. The road winds and climbs, with towering pine trees on both sides. The aroma of Mount Puntang coffee, which is characteristic of the area, wafts around the entrance gate of the radio station.
Built for the interest of the Dutch
Tomi further said that the Malabar Radio Station was constructed to help the Dutch communicate with their motherland in the Netherlands, without the Germans knowing it, as they were at odds with the Netherlands. “During World War I, the Netherlands wanted to safeguard its territories from Germany by establishing direct communication from Indonesia to the Netherlands via radio. It was deemed safer than telegraphy stations located in Sabang, Ambon, Timor, and Situbondo. At that time, telegraph messages were transmitted through unencrypted undersea cables, making them susceptible to interception by unintended parties,” explained Tomi.
To support this plan, the Netherlands recruited Dr. Ir. Cornelius Johannes de Groot, a German graduate electrical engineer. They were impressed by De Groot’s success and experimental thesis, “De Invloed van Het Tropisch Klimaat op de Radioverbinding,” which translates as “the influence of tropical climates on electromagnetic waves”. De Groot was thereafter named chief of radio in Indonesia.
In the 1920s, De Groot began his work by constructing the radio station with the assistance of local residents. “They chose this area because it is located between two mountains, the Puntang and Halimun mountains, which function as reflectors,” said Tomi. De Groot then deployed a 2-kilometer-long antenna cable called the “berg antenna” between the two mountains, supported by 2.4 megawatts of power.
De Groot utilized an old technology called the arc Poulsen, a type of spark transmitter that converts direct current electricity into radio frequency alternating current, as the power generator.
“A 10-ton electric arc generated the broadcast frequency. This prompted Radio Malabar to require a significant quantity of electrical power, approximately 3.6 megawatts. The electricity demand was gained from numerous power plants in the Radio Malabar area, including the Lamajan Hydroelectric Power Plant, the Dayeuhkolot Thermal Power Plant, and the Hydroelectric Power Plant in the Dago area, through a very extensive electrical network,” Tomi added.
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On May 5, 1923, Governor General Dirk Fock officially launched the radio broadcasts. “During the inauguration, one of the agendas was to demonstrate transferring messages from Radio Malabar to Radio Kootwijk in the Netherlands, but the experiment was unsuccessful. Tomi said that the message was unable to be transmitted since there was no response from the Netherlands.
The event was covered by various print media, resulting in De Groot’s public humiliation. However, upon investigation, the failure was caused by severe rainfall the day before. Communication that was conducted during the day was not conducive to long-distance radio conversations. “For that reason, the next night the message was sent again, and it was successfully delivered to the Queen of the Netherlands, receiving an immediate re – sponse,” Tomi continued.
The radio impact on local residents
Following the success, news was widely spread across the European continent, stating that a radio station in the Dutch East Indies managed to send messages abroad. De Groot continued to conduct various experiments on the Malabar radio, where he needed various imported components. “Unfortunately, the imported components never reached Indonesia, because they were hijacked in the Malacca Strait,” said Tomi.
The missing components for the experiments benefited Indonesia, as De Groot decided to craft the components and involve the local people in their making. A technology transfer took place when local residents finally learned to make radio. “The radio technology was considered sophisticated at that time. The technology transfer allowed local residents to learn about radio manufacture and promote radio enthusiast communities that originated from the local residents,” Tomi continued.
Despite prohibitions and confiscations, the radio communities thrived under Japanese occupation. They remained active, by forming secret movements as part of the resistance. They contributed to Indonesia’s in – dependence process, including receiving the news of Japan’s defeat and surrender to the Allies. According to reports, the kidnapping of Soekarno and Hatta in Rengasdengklok was launched based on radio transmissions.
“The radio belonged to Chairil Anwar, an Indonesian poet, and Des Alwi. Through the radio, news spread that Japan had surrendered to the Allies. This information was immediately passed on to Sutan Syahrir, Chairil Anwar’s uncle. Without the news from that historical radio, Japan might have attempted to colonize longer, despite the fact that it had already surrendered to the Allies,” Tomi concluded. (Ricardo Ronald)