DPA clarifies<\/p>\n
In the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) article Missing pieces at
\nIndonesia's famous temples, published on Sept. 15 in The Jakarta
\nPost, I made an inaccurate statement related to the elephant
\nstatue, given by King Chulalongkorn of Thailand during the Dutch
\ncolonial period, that was placed in front of the Indonesian
\nNational Museum and to the transfer of the Buddha statues from
\nBorobudur temple.<\/p>\n
The Royal Thai Embassy has pointed out that King Chulalongkorn
\nhad paid royal visits to Java three times, in 1871, 1896, 1901,
\nrespectively. On the first visit, He visited only Batavia
\n(Jakarta) and Semarang. Shortly after returning to Siam
\n(Thailand), the King ordered two bronze elephant statues to be
\nmade and instructed a high-ranking Thai officer to present the
\nstatues on the King's behalf. One each was sent to Batavia and
\nSingapore as tokens of His Majesty's appreciation of their warm
\nhospitality.<\/p>\n
In fact, King Chulalongkorn's visit to Borobudur took place
\nduring his second visit to Java in 1896. It was during this visit
\nthat the Buddha statues from the ruins were offered to him as a
\ngift. However, the King chose some imperfect statues and wrote in
\nhis diary that the temple should "Keep the good ones for others
\nto see."<\/p>\n
Therefore, the different time, places and occasions show no
\nlinkage between the presentation of the elephant statue and the
\ntransfer of the Buddha statues.<\/p>\n
I sincerely apologize to the Royal Thai Embassy, Royal Thai
\ngovernment and Thai people for my mistake by quoting the rumor
\nand historical inaccuracy which I hope have now been set
\nstraight.<\/p>\n
PETER JANSSEN, DPA, Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/dpa-clarifies-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }