Ambary devotes life to Islamic archeology

By Rita A. Widiadana

JAKARTA (JP): Unearthing stones, artifacts and the skeletal remains of ancient humans in remote areas may sound like an unappealing job to many people, but not to Hasan Muarif Ambary.

Born sixty years ago in Kuningan, West Java, Ambary, a professor of archeology, is one of the very few scholars who has devoted his entire working life to the development of archeology in Indonesia. He is also the only senior expert in Islamic archeology.

"I am interested in Islamic archeology because it is very important to the life of the Indonesian people and the nation, where Muslims make up the majority of the population," the soft- spoken Ambary said.

Ambary said that to special in Islamic archeology, a person "must learn and understand the Arabic language and ancient Malayan and Javanese transcripts, which are indeed very difficult".

Ambary was lucky to be able to study Arabic, written and spoken, since his childhood. "My father was an ulema (Islamic religious leader) who was very strict with his children," he remembered.

Through his research and studies, Ambary found that Islam entered Indonesia peacefully and was easily adapted to Indonesian culture and society.

He describes the process in his most-recent book, Menemukan Peradaban, Jejak Arkeologi dan Historis Islam Indonesia (Finding a Civilization, Archeological Traces and Islamic History in Indonesia).

Ambary also reveals that most communities in Indonesia's history adopted Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist beliefs, and were able to live in harmony.

"Archeological studies remain relevant to the current condition. We can draw important lessons from our past successes and failures in handling current social, political, religious and cultural matters," Ambary explained.

His interest in archeology was aroused while he was still a student in junior high school. "I had a very kind and clever teacher," he recalled.

The teacher told fascinating stories about ancient civilizations in Egypt, China, India and, of course, Indonesia.

"I had very wonderful experiences when I heard stories about how people worked hard to understand the meaning of animal paintings in European caves and uncover the remains of the ancient Egyptian civilization," Ambary said.

In l964, he studied archeology at the University of Indonesia. Ambary received his doctoral degree in 1984 from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociale in Paris. He wrote his dissertation on ancient Islamic tombs in Indonesia. He now heads the National Archeological Research Center.

"Not many people understand the significant role of archeology in the development of a nation," Ambary said.

"Archeology is really not a popular science in Indonesia. People always link it to the archaic world, and believe that it has no relation to the present or the future," Ambary commented.

"In fact, archeology is a holistic and integrative study of mankind," he stated.

Archeology is not merely the excavation and study of artifacts. The science actually centers on the lives of the people who deposited all archeological remains.

Ambary said that archeologists wanted to contribute to the understanding of the human species by examining the lives of ancient people.

An archeologist's main task is to discover, recover, reconstruct and explain the physical evidence of a culture in a certain time and certain place, he explained.

Archeology, anthropology, history, geology and other related sciences complement each other. Historians learn about the past through written records, while archeologists explore it through various materials dating as far back as four million years.

"By attempting to unearth as many materials as possible, we may draw a preliminary picture of the social and cultural systems, technological achievements and other skills of the people who once lived in a certain area," he said.

Indonesia boasts very rich and diverse archeological remains throughout the country. Yet, there is little interest in archeology from the government, the private sector and the general population.

"We are now facing the danger of losing our vital archeological heritage because of various natural or developmental reasons," he said.

As an example, he cited the construction of a housing complex in West Java's Rancamaya valley, which might have destroyed an important archeological site believed to be the holy place of the kings of the Padjadjaran Hindu Kingdom, which held sway over West Java in the fifth century.

Around the country, many other archeological sites are being threatened by various industrial, infrastructure and housing projects.

"It is high time for all parties to understand the importance of preserving archeological remains as the clues and pathways to our past," Ambary said.

Despite the existence of the Law on Cultural and Archeological Preservation, there are still many violations which occur. The demolition of archeological sites and the theft of artifacts are recurring events.

"So far, the punishments for violators have been very lenient. The enforcement of the law must be stricter in order to protect our valuable legacy," Ambary said.

In developed countries such as the United States, Japan, France and Britain, any development project must involve at least one archeologist to prevent any destruction of possible archeological remains.

"Being an archeologist is a respected and prestigious profession in those countries," Ambary said. They are hired by large companies, such as mining and construction firms, to work on their development projects.

They also have easy access to research and development funds through universities and government agencies.

In Indonesia, the situation is very different. There are only four universities in Indonesia, including the University of Indonesia in Jakarta and the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, which have archeology departments.

Each of the four universities accepts between 20 and 30 students every year. This means that there will be somewhere between 50 and 100 new archeology graduates each academic year.

"For a country as wide and rich as Indonesia, such a number is insufficient," Ambary stated.

However, life for new archeology graduates is very difficult because job opportunities are rare. Many of the graduates eventually enter other professions.

"It is a pity and a waste of good human resources because we are now facing a lot of subjects and problems in the archeological field ," he asserted.

The National Archeological Research Center has 10 branches across several provinces, but the center can only absorb around ten new employees each year.

"We only have two archeologists working in our Irian Jaya branch. How can they work to their optimum ability in such a huge province," Ambary asked, adding that all policies regarding the hiring of new employees were made by the central government.

Ambary hoped that during the three-day archeological meeting in Yogyakarta starting on Monday, the members of the Indonesian Archeologists Association would be able to find solutions to the existing problems facing Indonesia's archeologists. If they are unable to come up with any solutions, the country's rich heritage could be lost forever.