The road passing the Cadas Pangeran near Sumedang (1910-1930). Photographed by Wijnand Elbert Kerkhoff
The statue of Governor-General Hermann Willem Daendels and Pangeran Kornel in Cadas Pangeran today. Possibly this is the only statue in Indonesia that showed Dutch Governor-General in colonial era!
Cadas Pangeran (Prince Rock) is the name of a place about six kilometers southwest of the city of Sumedang, through which the highway Bandung-Cirebon passed. The name itself is associated with the construction of the Daendels Post Road (de Groote Postweg) that crosses this area. Because the terrain is so rocky, five thousand people lost their lives while working on it! This angered the ruler of Sumedang District, Prince Kusumadinata IX (1791-1828) who is more popularly known as Prince Kornel, and he protested the wrongdoings in the road construction.
A memorial statue of Prince Kornel shaking hands with Daendels with his left hand while his right hand holding a Nagasasra dagger then built to commemorate the struggle of the people Sumedang against colonization and how charismatic the figure of this Sumedang Prince, where his action is symbolized as a form of resistance against Daendels decision for cleaving rocks using local populace in Sumedang. The statue become a separator between upper Cadas Pangeran and below..
However, after 200 years has passed De Groote Postweg has indeed become beneficial for the people of Indonesia at this time by creating a faster mobility between cities in Java and develop the potential of the surrounding community. Also become the basic foundation for transport development.
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