Borobudur temple: An ancient wonder confronts modern ills<\/p>\n
Wendy Pugh, Reuters, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
Borobudur temple rises in an immense dark stone pyramid from a
\nfertile volcanic plain, a spiritual monument at the center of a
\nbattle over tourism and commerce.<\/p>\n
The country's fortunes have waned since the Asian financial
\ncrisis of the late 1990s and the world's largest Buddhist
\nmonument with its tourist pulling power is a cash honey pot in
\ntough times.<\/p>\n
But hawker numbers at the UNESCO World Heritage site have
\nexploded and tourists find themselves besieged by sometimes
\naggressive sellers of everything from postcards to toys.<\/p>\n
Now, regional authorities want to clean up the area with new
\nshopping projects that critics say are an even greater threat to
\nthe integrity of the site in the heart of Java, Indonesia's main
\nisland.<\/p>\n
\"Promotion of shopping tourism within the preservation
\nprecinct of Borobudur is simply not acceptable,\" said Richard
\nEngelhardt, UNESCO regional adviser for culture in Asia and the
\nPacific.<\/p>\n
\"The site is supposed to be a site of solitude and meditation
\nwhere you can bring yourself to a point where you and nature
\nbecome one, and you can't do this if you are ringed by a shopping
\nmall.\"<\/p>\n
Borobudur, not far from Java's ancient royal capital
\nYogyakarta, dates back to around 800 AD, long before Islam became
\nthe dominant religion in the world's most populous Muslim nation.<\/p>\n
The monument was neglected and abandoned for almost a thousand
\nyears before it was rediscovered under volcanic ash and jungle in
\nthe 1800s, when a survey team investigated talk of a great ruin
\nin Central Java.<\/p>\n
For many Indonesians, the religious nature of the site is of
\nlittle importance to them and this partly explains the planned
\ncommercialization, say some experts.<\/p>\n
Borobudur represents a Buddhist view of the universe,
\ncomprising a series of square and circular terraces that allow
\nvisitors to move upward from the everyday world to a large bell-
\nshaped stupa representing nirvana.<\/p>\n
The square terraces lie within stone walls carved in intricate
\ndetail which provide lessons to pilgrims through scenes
\nillustrating Buddhist thought and the life of Buddha.<\/p>\n
Steep stairways rise to the wide-open circular terraces, where
\nstone-lattice stupas contain Buddha statues overlooking the
\ntropical green plain and its distant volcanoes.<\/p>\n
It's a landscape that evokes a sense of calm, enhanced by the
\nmonument's peaceful, if mysterious, atmosphere. The detail of the
\nstone reliefs and serene expressions of the statues add to the
\neffect.<\/p>\n
But serenity is missing in the car park where calls of \"Look
\nmadame, batik postcard\", \"Hello...water?\", \"Like pen?\", \"This
\nbook\", \"Maybe later?\" is the typical chorus following tourists.<\/p>\n
Dutch tourists Rob and Angela Joosten from Amsterdam said the
\ntemple held a mystique, but the hawkers were irritating.<\/p>\n
\"They are quite aggressive and pushy...Some I can understand,
\nbut there are too many,\" said Rob Joosten.<\/p>\n
Borobudur is not the only monument of global significance
\nwhere tourists run a gauntlet of sales people.<\/p>\n
But Ken Scott of the Pacific Asia Travel Association said it
\nwas toward the bad end of the spectrum.<\/p>\n
\"If people travel around the world to see this acclaimed
\nBuddhist structure you want to make sure that they enjoy the
\nexperience and are not hassled to buy irrelevant goods or to have
\nthe experience downgraded by commercial elements,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Last year Borobudur attracted more than two million tourists,
\nmostly Indonesians, as foreign numbers fell after the 2002 Bali
\nbombings and a wider international travel downturn.<\/p>\n
But the enduring drawing power of the site and the existing
\nproblems have sparked retail plans that have horrified UNESCO,
\nthe cultural arm of the United Nations.<\/p>\n
These include the Jagad Jawa, or \"Spirit World of Java\" retail
\nshopping complex and light rail system proposal suggested last
\nyear by the Central Java authorities and later put on hold after
\na widespread outcry.<\/p>\n
Engelhardt said various concepts were still circling.<\/p>\n
\"The issue of the shopping mall keeps coming up in many
\ndifferent forms and guises,\" he said.<\/p>\n
UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites,
\nwhich advises on world heritage listings, favor some retailing,
\nbut prefer a lower-key local arts and crafts bazaar that would
\nassist and involve the nearby community.<\/p>\n
Current items sold are mostly viewed as low quality, generic
\ngoods that benefit traders from outside the region.<\/p>\n
UNESCO also wants more emphasis at Borobudur on the historic,
\ncultural and spiritual values that are often lost on visitors
\nscrambling to the top for the view and a photo.
\nWiendu Nuryanti, director of Tourism Research and Development at
\nthe Yogyakarta-based research group Stuppa Indonesia, said there
\nwas great pride and appreciation of Borobudur within Indonesia.<\/p>\n
But she said the issues at the site partly reflected a
\ndisconnect between a predominantly Muslim community and a site
\nseen as a relic from a long-ago era.<\/p>\n
\"There is no direct religious link between the temple and the
\n(Muslim) community,\" she said. \"If this monument lived in the
\nmiddle of a Buddhist society I think it would be different.\"<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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