Borobudur management needs sanctified approach

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Magelang, Central Java

Poor management of the world heritage Borobudur temple by the government has long been a subject of criticism, and a recent international meeting of experts on Borobudur sees the need for radical change.

The meeting, held from July 4 through July 7 and attended by numerous local and foreign experts representing different fields of study and organizations, agreed that technical aspects of Borobudur restoration were very good.

According to chairman of the 4th International Expert Meeting on Borobudur Richard A. Engelhardt, there was no need to worry about the state of the temple's restoration, but poor day-to-day management meant it could not directly benefit the local community.

"The experts and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) see that the management has not been as good as it should or could be," Engelhardt, who is also UNESCO's regional adviser for culture in Asia and the Pacific, told The Jakarta Post.

Among the serious problems brought up by the experts during the meeting was the chaos created by informal commercial activities at the front entrance to Borobudur, poor management of visitors and the lack of concern regarding educational aspects of visiting the temple.

Some 2.5 million people reportedly visit the temple every year. However, no attempt has been made to manage the visitors in any way, for example to prevent them from putting too much weight on the temple at any one time. Studies have shown that vertical cracking of the temple stones is evident at Borobudur.

"There is no other explanation for the cracking other than that too much weight has been placed on them -- there is no other factor involved. It is simply a load-bearing issue. The weight, of course, comes from the people on it," Engelhardt explained.

The fact there had been no control of visitors was another concern of the experts. During the experts' site visit, for instance, no warning notices for visitors could be seen, while they were observed climbing all over the main stupa, or bored children were running, uncontrolled, around the temple and touching the stupas.

"Maybe one kid touching doesn't matter, but (the touches of) thousands do matter," said Engelhardt.

He added that even if Borobudur were not an archeological monument or Buddhism were no longer practiced there, the temple was still a monument that was built to educate. To educate meant that things should be very peaceful, spiritual and meditative.

"Therefore, if we want to show the monument to the public we should show all those aspects that make people feel peaceful and meditative, and think that they are part of 2,000 years of tradition, landscape and a peaceful location," he said.

Instead, the management failed to meet expectations. It emphasized the site as a mere recreational ground. "There is nothing wrong with recreation, but you don't do it at sacred spots. You do other things at sacred spots -- you have some other spiritual recreation. So the management should do something about that," Engelhardt said.

Another problem highlighted at the meeting was whether the profit generated from some 2.5 million visitors to the temple had been reinvested in the local community. Most of the experts agreed it had been returned to the local community to some degree, but not directly.

So far, people had not seen the direct impact of reinvesting the profits generated by the temple in the community, or understood they were also benefiting from the site.

One way to deal with the matter was direct employment of local people at the site, creating more job opportunities there and expanding tourist-related economic activities to surrounding villages.

According to Engelhardt, spreading economic activities to neighboring villages would eventually answer the problem of a mushrooming in the number of vendors at the temple entrance, as well as distribute visitors to attractions other than the temple itself.

So far, the temple was the only tourist attraction, and therefore ignored the cultural potential at neighboring villages.

The meeting also recommended that state Borobudur management company PT Taman Wisata provide tourists with supporting cultural or religious attractions, like a meditation school or club, to persuade them to stay longer and create more chance for local communities to benefit from the presence of Borobudur.

For this particular reason, the meeting strongly recommended that a thorough community catchment analysis be carried out, to learn more about the local community's social, economic and cultural potential, which could be developed into promising tourism-related activities.

Engelhardt said UNESCO had decided the first thing to do was to invest in a study of the community's needs. Second, training the community for better and more jobs at Borobudur and finally, providing assistance for them to return to the commercial area thus organized in a better, fairer, cleaner and more pleasant way.

The recent Jagad Jawa project, the government's proposal to build a three-story shopping mall at Borobudur compound, also emerged during the meeting, although it was not on the agenda. Director of PT Taman Wisata Wagiman Subiarso, who was invited to the meeting, expressed support for the proposal, arguing it would help deal with the vendor problem at the temple entrance.

But UNESCO delegates rejected the proposal, arguing that building a modern commercial shopping mall inside such a protected area would only degrade the value of the sacred place and would not solve the problem at all. It would only move the problem, but not solve it.

"In fact, it will make the problem worse, because the road from the present entrance toward the Jagad Jawa site, which is long enough for a walk and now is a good environmental buffer for the temple, will be lined with vendor stalls once a parking lot is built there. Thus, it will only create a zone that imprisons the temple inside a ring of shopping malls," said Engelhardt.

Engelhardt also criticized the lack of coordination between relevant state agencies, which he saw as one of the roots of the problems faced in managing the temple.

"The department of archeology does not coordinate with PT Taman. At the same time, PT Taman does not cooperate with the community," said Engelhardt, underlying the need for major change in the management structure of Borobudur, which was also recommended by the meeting.

The 4th International Expert Meeting, the last before Borobudur enters the second phase of restoration, was given the task of formulating recommendations to be adopted for the next 20-year restoration plan. Unlike the first phase, the second will not only focus on the tangible, but also intangible aspects, to the benefit of all.

"In this case, we just want to make sure that all parties responsible, from the minister down to the regent, and even the gardeners who cut the grass, all understand why the recommendations are as they are."