Image: Charles Theodore Deeleman/Atlas van Stolk
Maybe children born in 2000 and later are rarely familiar with the name Meester Cornelis. Naturally, because the name is officially no longer used since the Japanese occupation era in Indonesia. The name Meester Cornelis, taken from the name of the Dutchman, was changed to Jatinegara. However, the old people until the 90s still called the area as Mester.
Meester Cornelis was actually administratively not part of Batavia. It stood alone as a gementee or municipality and only joined Batavia in 1936. However, it was considered part of Batavia because of its location and close interaction between regions.
Long ago the Meester Cornelis area was a military area where there was a Meester Cornelis Fort as a new defense base for the City of Batavia which was no longer possible to rely on the old fort because the city was growing. There was also a KNIL military school which was quite famous.
This painting by Charles Theodore Deeleman depicts the atmosphere in front of the Meester Cornelis military school around 1860. You can see the school building with trees around it, as well as some military people around the building. Naturally, that year the Jatinegara area still had many natural trees.
One of the graduates from the Meester Cornelis military school was Oerip Soemohardjo who later contributed to founding the TNI, but he lost in prestige to Sudirman, who was elected as the first TNI Commander.