Borobudur management needs sanctified approach

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."