PORTALJABAR, BANDUNG CITY - Bandung is quite close to the journey of First President Soekarno or Bung Karno. Soekarno's youth was spent mostly in the city of flowers.

One of the memories of Bung Karno's journey is Banceuy Prison. The location is on Jalan Banceuy Number 8A, Bandung City.

According to various sources, Banceuy Prison was built by the Dutch government in 1877. Initially, this prison was intended for low-level political prisoners and criminals.

In this prison there are 2 types of cells, namely cells for political prisoners on the top floor and cells for commoner prisoners on the bottom floor. The prison cell itself measures 1.5 x 2.5 meters.

The beginning of this building becoming a historical part occurred on December 29, 1929. At that time, Soekarno and three colleagues from the PNI: Maskoen, Soepriadinata, and Gatot Mangkoepraja were arrested in Yogyakarta and then thrown into Banceuy prison for approximately 8 months.

In the book Bung Karno: Connecting the People's Tongue (2007), Soekarno wrote that Banceuy prison was a detention center for pepetek or lower class criminals. The guards gave the prisoners rations in the form of brown rice and chili sauce.

He revealed that Pepetek slept on the floor. We higher class prisoners slept more comfortably on iron beds barely wide enough for one person and covered with straw mats as thick as cardboard.

Banceuy Prison is also said to be a type of prison that will put detainees' mental pressure on them from the first time they enter the cell. The area was not as spacious as today's prison cells, which could be used for lying down and had sufficient air circulation and light.

As an illustration, the cell occupied by Bung Karno was only the length of an adult human body. He called it "nothing more than a coffin."

This is where Bung Karno drafted a very famous plea which was later named Indonesia Meng Mengkuat. This plea was then read out at the court hearing at the Landraad Building (now called the Indonesia Meng Meng Compute Building which is located on Jalan Perintis Independen).

In 1983 Banceuy prison was moved to Jalan Soekarno-Hatta. Then the Banceuy prison was dismantled to make way for a shopping complex and all that remained was Bung Karno's prison cell and the guard post tower.

Currently, Banceuy Prison has been moved to Jalan Soekarno Hatta Number 187A, and functions as a correctional institution under the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.

Meanwhile, the former prison building on Jalan Banceuy Number 8A has now been converted into a business center or shop through 30 years of development cooperation between the West Java Provincial Government and PT Interna Permai.

The parties involved in the construction of this site, because it has high historical value, decided to maintain the prison watchtower as a heritage.

This historic building is also now remembered by the public and a number of tourists as a historical tourist attraction. If you are around Jalan Banceuy, there's no harm in taking the time to see this historic building.