Patung Pemuda Membangun (translated as Youth Advancement Monument or simply Youth Monument) is a statue located at the southern end of

Jalan Jenderal Sudirman Jalan Jenderal Sudirman (''General Sudirman Avenue'') or Jalan Sudirman (''Sudirman Avenue'') is a major thoroughfare in Jakarta, Indonesia. Named after Indonesian national hero Sudirman, the road runs from Patung Pemuda Membangun at the south ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. The statue marks the entrance to

Kebayoran Baru Kebayoran Baru is a List of districts of Jakarta, district () in the administrative city of South Jakarta, Indonesia. The name was derived from a planned satellite city of the same name which was developed in the Aftermath of World War II, post-wa ...

subdistrict in

South Jakarta South Jakarta (; ), abbreviated as Jaksel, is one of the five administrative cities which form the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia. South Jakarta is not self-governed and does not have a city council, hence it is not classified as a ...

Description

Patung Pemuda Membangun is a 25-meter Soviet-style dark-grey

terrazzo Terrazzo is a composite material, poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of chips of marble, quartz, granite, glass, or other suitable material, poured with a cementitious binder (for chemical bind ...

statue which stands on a roundabout at the south end of

. The roundabout marks the entrance to the

subdistrict in

. The statue was erected to inspire people to participate in the nation's building, especially the youths of the new nation. The name ''Pemuda Membangun'' ("Youth Advancement") was chosen to inspire young people. The design of the statue shows a near naked young man shouting while holding a plate containing a flame above his head, his sinews and muscles strain at full effort. The flaming plate symbolizes youth taking forth light into the future.

History

The statue was presented by

Pertamina PT Pertamina (Persero) is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation, headquartered in Jakarta. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of ''Pertamin'' (established 1961) and ''Permina'' (established in 1957). In 2020, the ...

for the government of

to celebrate the 445th anniversary of Jakarta in 1971, at that time headed by Ibnu Sutowo. The monument was designed by a team of sculptors known as ''Biro Insinyur Seniman Arsitektur'' (The Bureau of Engineer Artists Architecture) led by Imam Supardi. Munir Pamuncak was responsible for the construction. Construction of the monument started in July 1971. The construction was scheduled to be finished on October 28, 1971, in time for the celebration of the Youth Pledge Day. However completion was delayed until March 1972.

Construction of Jakarta MRT

The monument marks the transition between the elevated and the underground structure of the Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit. During the construction of the transition area, cut-and-cover construction of the box culvert tunnel had to commence below the statue. A temporary steel frame structure was built to protect the statue during the digging of the ground below. This protection structure consists of an H-beam kingpost, bracings, angle brackets, and a borepile at the bottom of the kingpost. After the completion of the work, this temporary protection structure was demolished and the ground foundation of the statue refilled on top of the MRT's box culvert tunnel.

Popular culture

English-speaking foreigners call it the "Pizza Man" or "Hot-Hands Harry". Some Indonesians called it "Aduh, Panas" ("Ouch, Hot"). Other nickname for the monument is "Pertamina", referring to the

national oil company A national oil company (NOC) is a petroleum company that is fully or partly owned by the government of a sovereign nation. NOCs produce about half the world’s oil and gas. Due to their increasing dominance over global reserves, the importance ...

which takes energy out of the ground and burns it in the air.

References

Cited works