The Masterpiece Of Meneer Deeleman , Delman

Do you know the name of the horse-drawn vehicle on the above picture? A Horse Cart?

Nay!

We call it Delman. It is also often called in many other appellations, Andong, Sado but commonly people name this traditional transportation mean as Delman.

There is a reason for differentiating this old vehicle with the same type in Western country. I understand that a horse-drawn cart is still a horse cart. However, Delman has its own story.

The carriage that is pulled by a horse was designed specially in Batavia (now known as Jakarta, Indonesia Capital).

It was the creation of a man named as Deeleman, Charles Theodore Deeleman. He was a Dutch engineer living in this country when Dutch colonized the archipelago.

His name was attached to the horse cart and by the time, it has adjusted into the form of Indonesian word, Delman. This word can be found on all Indonesian Dictionary referring to this old mean of human transportation.

Delman in Bogor
Delman in Bogor

Delman has also another name i.e. Sado. The word came from also a term in French dos-a-dos. It means back-to-back because passengers will sit with their back lay on other passenger’s.

Later on, the term changed form. It was likely to difficult for Indonesian tongue at that time to pronounce dos-a-dos, so they made it easy for Indonesian. They called it sado.

This name is now formally considered as a synonym for Delman.

Although, the configuration of the carriage has been intact since the first Meneer Deeleman created it. The only change on the shape is on its wheel.

Delman in BogorThe original wheel was made from wood and it was bigger. Nowadays, Delman uses more car tyre as it’s easier to find.

On the third photo, you can see what I meant. One of the delmans still use wood wheel. This is the original delman type created by Mr Deeleman.

Delman, as also other old transporation has no longer become favorite transportation for Bogorians. It has been replaced by motorcycle or car.

It is too slow to accommodate the speed required by a modern life in this growing and developing city. However, some still operates but often more for toursim.

Probably, when you have a chance to visit Bogor, you should try this traditional way of human transport. It is quite nice to ride a transportation created more than a century ago.

What do you think? Will you?

Mari Berbagi

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