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HOW ARMENIA SHAPED THE SOUTHEAST ASIAN SKYLINE
Jakarta Globe, Indonesia
Feb 16 2015
By Antony Sutton on 11:28 am Feb 16, 2015
As long as there has been cross-border trade there have been expats.
Be they Chinese from poor coastal villages in search of a better life,
or unskilled laborers from India dragooned by colonial overlords;
soldiers of fortune from the Japan or sons of the British Empire
brought up on boys' own tales of pomp and riches, people have bid
farewell to their own shores and traveled in search of a brave
new world.
Expats come and expats go, but their legacy varies. Jakarta's historic
Old Town is a testament to centuries of Dutch colonialism, India's tea
plantations legacy to Europeans love of tea. And the Chinese influence
lives on in boardrooms of some of the wealthiest conglomerates in
the region.
And then we have the Armenians. As trade opened up the East and brought
yet more opportunities for the opportunistic, others followed in
the footsteps of the hardy pioneers, including people from an often
overlooked nation sitting at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.
Little remains of the Armenian presence in Southeast Asia beyond the
odd church, road name and hotel. But what hotels?
Tigran Sarkies was his name, a precocious 23-year-old, and in 1882
he was working as an auctioneer in Georgetown, Penang. He must have
tired of banging the gavel because a couple of years later he opened
the Eastern Hotel and two years after he launched the Oriental Hotel
with his brother, Martin.
Another brother, Aviet, was brought in to manage the Eastern, while
Tigran and Martin extended the Oriental, which they reopened in 1889 --
renamed as the Eastern & Oriental, or E&O as it was know by generations
of planters and officials during those colonial times.
In just a few short years the name Sarkies became so synonymous with
hotels that Sir Frank Swettenham, who has more than left his own
imprint on the peninsula, first related an oft-told joke.
"A little boy at school was asked by his teacher who the Sakais
[indigenous Malay peoples] were, and he replied they were people who
kept hotels!"
In 1891 a fourth brother, Arshak, arrived on the scene and his industry
led to the constant reinvention of the E&O until it acquired its
moniker of the premier hotel east of Suez. Quite a character was
Arshak who could often be seen waltzing round the ballroom of his
hotel with a whiskey soda on his head.
Buoyed by the early success of the island-based hotel, Tigran and
Martin looked into opening a hotel in Singapore. A suitable premise
was found on the corner of Beach Rd. and Bras Brasah Rd.
The bungalow had been a boarding house for students at the Raffles
Institution and needed little renovation. By December 1887, Tigran
opened Raffles with the guarantee of "great care and attention the
comfort of boarders and visitors."
Again the brothers had backed a winner. Extensions in 1889 increased
the capacity but the demand was still outstripping supply.
Martin returned to Persia in 1890, leaving Tigran to oversee the
construction of Palm Court Wing in 1894, which brought the total
numbers of rooms to 75.
Another wing was opened in November 1899, which led the somewhat stuffy
Straits Times to gush "palatial building with excellent ventilation,
and the vast airy dining room would make Raffles one of the largest
and handsomest hotels in the East."
Now, with 100 suites, Raffles also was the only hotel in the area
lit by electricity and with a 10,000 gallon water tank!
The last tiger to be killed in Singapore was taken out in the Bar &
Billiard Room. I'm not sure what the patrons' reaction was to having
their game interrupted by a great cat taking refuge under their feet.
As was common in many buildings at that time, the bar was raised off
the ground to prevent flooding and the tiger had hidden in the recess.
Given the popularity of tiger hunting, no doubt a few of the worthies
would have been disappointed they hadn't pulled the trigger.
Today it is peaceful and makes for a nice stroll, taking in Chinese
temples and a house used by Dr. Sun Yat Sen as he plotted to
overthrow the Chinese government but in the past has been the scene
for disturbances between various secret societies.
Further south in Singapore stands the Armenian Church, the oldest in
the country. Today it is surrounded by high rises, while a busy road
provides a non-stop symphony of sounds; hardly the place of relaxation
and contemplation.
The neatly manicured gardens have a handful of tombstones, many
featuring the name Sarkie. It is tempting to try and lose yourself in
the moment and imagine Martin and Tigran taking time out from running
a hostelry and seeking solace within the walls of the small church,
but the 21st century is just too close, as is a busy intersection
and a bus stop.
Closer to home Lucas, son of Martin, eschewed the Sarkies successful
practice of setting up in the wake of the British colonials and headed
south east, to Surabaya, a city famous on the maritime maps of the
day but also home to a fair-sized Armenian community.
He opened the Oranje Hotel in 1910, named after the Dutch colonials
in the East Indies. That the Sarkies had opened a hotel was enough
to tempt people to visit the hot and sweaty town in East Java.
Charlie Chaplin, a familiar figure on the screen and at Raffles
attended the opening ceremonies of a refurbishment in 1936.
The Japanese arrived with the invasion of Java and used the hotel as
a barracks, changing the name to Hotel Yamoto.
The Indonesians declared their independence after the war on Aug. 17
but that didn't stop the Anglo Dutch Country Section Office moving
into the hotel, room number 33 to be precise. On Sept. 19 at 6 a.m.
the officials raised the Dutch flag atop the hotel.
The Surabayans, angered by this arrogance, attacked the hotel, climbed
on to the roof and pulled down the symbol of oppression. They tore
off the blue band on the flag leaving just the red and white, merah
putih, the colors of the independent Indonesia.
http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/features/armenia-shaped-southeast-asian-skyline/
Jakarta Globe, Indonesia
Feb 16 2015
By Antony Sutton on 11:28 am Feb 16, 2015
As long as there has been cross-border trade there have been expats.
Be they Chinese from poor coastal villages in search of a better life,
or unskilled laborers from India dragooned by colonial overlords;
soldiers of fortune from the Japan or sons of the British Empire
brought up on boys' own tales of pomp and riches, people have bid
farewell to their own shores and traveled in search of a brave
new world.
Expats come and expats go, but their legacy varies. Jakarta's historic
Old Town is a testament to centuries of Dutch colonialism, India's tea
plantations legacy to Europeans love of tea. And the Chinese influence
lives on in boardrooms of some of the wealthiest conglomerates in
the region.
And then we have the Armenians. As trade opened up the East and brought
yet more opportunities for the opportunistic, others followed in
the footsteps of the hardy pioneers, including people from an often
overlooked nation sitting at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.
Little remains of the Armenian presence in Southeast Asia beyond the
odd church, road name and hotel. But what hotels?
Tigran Sarkies was his name, a precocious 23-year-old, and in 1882
he was working as an auctioneer in Georgetown, Penang. He must have
tired of banging the gavel because a couple of years later he opened
the Eastern Hotel and two years after he launched the Oriental Hotel
with his brother, Martin.
Another brother, Aviet, was brought in to manage the Eastern, while
Tigran and Martin extended the Oriental, which they reopened in 1889 --
renamed as the Eastern & Oriental, or E&O as it was know by generations
of planters and officials during those colonial times.
In just a few short years the name Sarkies became so synonymous with
hotels that Sir Frank Swettenham, who has more than left his own
imprint on the peninsula, first related an oft-told joke.
"A little boy at school was asked by his teacher who the Sakais
[indigenous Malay peoples] were, and he replied they were people who
kept hotels!"
In 1891 a fourth brother, Arshak, arrived on the scene and his industry
led to the constant reinvention of the E&O until it acquired its
moniker of the premier hotel east of Suez. Quite a character was
Arshak who could often be seen waltzing round the ballroom of his
hotel with a whiskey soda on his head.
Buoyed by the early success of the island-based hotel, Tigran and
Martin looked into opening a hotel in Singapore. A suitable premise
was found on the corner of Beach Rd. and Bras Brasah Rd.
The bungalow had been a boarding house for students at the Raffles
Institution and needed little renovation. By December 1887, Tigran
opened Raffles with the guarantee of "great care and attention the
comfort of boarders and visitors."
Again the brothers had backed a winner. Extensions in 1889 increased
the capacity but the demand was still outstripping supply.
Martin returned to Persia in 1890, leaving Tigran to oversee the
construction of Palm Court Wing in 1894, which brought the total
numbers of rooms to 75.
Another wing was opened in November 1899, which led the somewhat stuffy
Straits Times to gush "palatial building with excellent ventilation,
and the vast airy dining room would make Raffles one of the largest
and handsomest hotels in the East."
Now, with 100 suites, Raffles also was the only hotel in the area
lit by electricity and with a 10,000 gallon water tank!
The last tiger to be killed in Singapore was taken out in the Bar &
Billiard Room. I'm not sure what the patrons' reaction was to having
their game interrupted by a great cat taking refuge under their feet.
As was common in many buildings at that time, the bar was raised off
the ground to prevent flooding and the tiger had hidden in the recess.
Given the popularity of tiger hunting, no doubt a few of the worthies
would have been disappointed they hadn't pulled the trigger.
Today it is peaceful and makes for a nice stroll, taking in Chinese
temples and a house used by Dr. Sun Yat Sen as he plotted to
overthrow the Chinese government but in the past has been the scene
for disturbances between various secret societies.
Further south in Singapore stands the Armenian Church, the oldest in
the country. Today it is surrounded by high rises, while a busy road
provides a non-stop symphony of sounds; hardly the place of relaxation
and contemplation.
The neatly manicured gardens have a handful of tombstones, many
featuring the name Sarkie. It is tempting to try and lose yourself in
the moment and imagine Martin and Tigran taking time out from running
a hostelry and seeking solace within the walls of the small church,
but the 21st century is just too close, as is a busy intersection
and a bus stop.
Closer to home Lucas, son of Martin, eschewed the Sarkies successful
practice of setting up in the wake of the British colonials and headed
south east, to Surabaya, a city famous on the maritime maps of the
day but also home to a fair-sized Armenian community.
He opened the Oranje Hotel in 1910, named after the Dutch colonials
in the East Indies. That the Sarkies had opened a hotel was enough
to tempt people to visit the hot and sweaty town in East Java.
Charlie Chaplin, a familiar figure on the screen and at Raffles
attended the opening ceremonies of a refurbishment in 1936.
The Japanese arrived with the invasion of Java and used the hotel as
a barracks, changing the name to Hotel Yamoto.
The Indonesians declared their independence after the war on Aug. 17
but that didn't stop the Anglo Dutch Country Section Office moving
into the hotel, room number 33 to be precise. On Sept. 19 at 6 a.m.
the officials raised the Dutch flag atop the hotel.
The Surabayans, angered by this arrogance, attacked the hotel, climbed
on to the roof and pulled down the symbol of oppression. They tore
off the blue band on the flag leaving just the red and white, merah
putih, the colors of the independent Indonesia.
http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/features/armenia-shaped-southeast-asian-skyline/