No glut of visitors to lonely Taman Mini museums<\/p>\n
By Tam Notosusanto<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A weekday is really not the best time to visit
\nthe museums at the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah recreation park.
\nFor what you will find are sleeping ticket booth attendants.
\nSometimes the sight of a visitor on a workday is so unusual, a
\ndutiful security guard will approach, asking suspiciously \"Can I
\nhelp you, Sir?\" before realizing that all we want to do is check
\nout the museums.<\/p>\n
Inside, the atmosphere is not so welcoming either. The museums
\nare generally dark and cold places. And that's figurative speech,
\nbecause at some places the air conditioning is not on. The
\ntelecommunications museum was so hot that going through the
\ndisplays arranged on its four floors almost became a workout. At
\nthe sports museum, we stumbled upon a diorama that supposedly
\ndepicts various Indonesian traditional sports, such as the
\nIrianese boat race or the Maduranese Bull Race. But in the
\nabsence of proper lighting, we were with nothing but unimpressive
\nsilhouettes.<\/p>\n
But what can you do? In this time of an economic crisis, there
\nis an urgent need to be, well, economical about things.<\/p>\n
\"On week days, we shut off some of the power,\" said Terry
\nSemestari, the chief of education and research at the Purna
\nBhakti Pertiwi museum, as we mounted the turned off escalator.<\/p>\n
This particular museum was not at all dark, it was well-lit
\nand air conditioned. Only the escalators and elevator were not
\npowered. Well, let's hope nobody in a wheelchair comes anytime
\nsoon.<\/p>\n
The thought that these museums should only be open on weekends
\nsounds absurd. But this is the reality with such places. It's
\ninevitable for the museums to conduct such energy-saving measures
\nwhen visitor turnout is so low.<\/p>\n
Nono Sumarsono, a tour guide at the oil and gas museum, said
\nthis past weekend, the last weekend before the start of school,
\nhe still saw some schoolchildren going into his museum. But they
\nweren't exactly flocking to the museum, either. A lot of Taman
\nMini visitors were around the park pond, or at more recreational
\nspots such as the bird park, only a small percentage was in the
\nvicinity of the museums. Sumarsono probably didn't know that on
\nthat very weekend, as a comparison, the roads going to Ragunan
\nZoo and Ancol Dreamland Park were heavily jammed with last-minute
\nrecreation-seekers.<\/p>\n
\"We still need to improve the public's level of appreciation
\nof museums,\" said Nanang Iskandar, the oil and gas museum's
\ndirector. \"Most of them obviously don't know the benefits of
\nmuseums.\"<\/p>\n
His museum has hit an all-time low, with a mere 81,155
\nvisitors last year, while in 1997 it attracted 162,037 people.
\nIt's a condition he attributes to the economic and political
\nsituation, but inseparable from the fact that museums
\nhere are not a priority.<\/p>\n
Iskandar sees it a challenge for museum curators and
\nadministrators in Indonesia to get the public to love museums.
\nAnd the responsibility to educate the public about the importance
\nof museums also lies with what he calls mediators.<\/p>\n
\"With this, I mean not only museum guides who have to master
\nwhat they are supposed to tell the visitors,\" he said. \"The media
\nalso have the influence of becoming knowledgeable mediators
\nbetween museums and the general public.\"<\/p>\n
Museum staff themselves still find the constant need to
\nupgrade themselves. Semestari, for example, is ebullient about
\nbeing more educated in museum science. After almost seven years
\nworking at Purna Bhakti Pertiwi, she still feels there is room
\nfor improvement. That is why she tries to take advantage of the
\nregular training programs held by the Museum Directorate, under
\nthe Education Ministry.<\/p>\n
No matter how enthusiastic she and her colleagues are, self-
\nimprovement is not exactly smooth sailing. The limited capacity
\nof the training programs is mainly reserved for the staff of
\nstate-owned museums, leaving a meager one seat, or sometimes none
\nat all, for private museum staffers such as Semestari.<\/p>\n
Agus Ramdan, an official from the Museum Directorate, affirmed
\nthat his office holds annual month-long training sessions for
\nemployees of state-owned and provincial museums. Sometimes,
\ncollaborating with foreign donors, such as the Ford Foundation,
\nthe Directorate is able to send a museum scholar abroad, either
\nfor six month's training in the U.S., Canada or the Netherlands
\nor on two-week seminars in ASEAN countries such as Singapore or
\nThailand. But he attests that a selection process conducted by
\nthe state-affiliated Nusantara Jaya Foundation always results in
\ncandidates from state-owned museums.<\/p>\n
Semestari is not worried, however. Her museum has struck a
\ndeal with the Directorate. The Purna Bhakti Pertiwi museum now
\nholds educational training of their own, with lecturers coming to
\nTaman Mini from the Directorate, hired to teach a significant
\nnumber of the museum's employees on subjects such as conservation
\nand display arrangement. Everybody is happy.<\/p>\n
\"It's much easier now, since Soeharto resigned,\" Semestari
\nsaid. This comment, of course, is related to the fact that Purna
\nBhakti Pertiwi is an exclusive place that houses private
\ncollections of the former president and his family. And she
\ndoesn't mean anything negative by what she said, it's just that
\nSoeharto, as the head of the foundation that largely supports the
\nMuseum, now has more time for Purna Bhakti Pertiwi.<\/p>\n
\"The old management used to dismiss any idea I might have,\"
\nsaid Semestari. \"And I was told not to bother Soeharto with
\nunimportant museum matters. But the current management is much
\nmore open. And we are allowed time to meet with Soeharto
\nregularly. He listens to all our needs and complaints. We have
\nbeen able to accomplish so much since then.\"<\/p>\n
R.M. Sadono, the curator of the oil and gas museum, had some
\nideas of his own that almost fell through because Taman Mini
\nmanagement almost nixed it.<\/p>\n
\"They couldn't understand why we had to have a dinner party,
\nwhen the Taman Mini was supposed to be closed at night,\" he said.
\n\"They don't see that we need to do all we can to keep potential
\ndonors, benefactors and museum-lovers coming back to our
\nmuseums.\"<\/p>\n
At least both Purna Bhakti Pertiwi and the oil and gas museum
\nare planning a year-long program, full of educational sessions
\nand outreach programs to keep their museums alive. But the most
\nimportant aspect of a museum, according to Sadono, is when a
\nmuseum can effectively touch and inspire people.<\/p>\n
\"I once guided a naval academy cadet and his parents through
\nthe displays in the museum,\" he said. \"I explained to them our
\ncountry's potential wealth of oil and natural gas. And you know
\nwhat the young man said? As he pointed at the Natuna and Aru seas
\nand other places on the map, he said, 'If I have to die in these
\nplaces, at least now I know what I'm defending.' That really
\nmoved me to tears. The museum made a connection with the
\nkid.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/no-glut-of-visitors-to-lonely-taman-mini-museums-1447893297",
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