Caring for our heritage
Elsewhere in this newspaper we are informed of the sorry state of affairs in which many museums in this city find themselves at present. Most are in a rather dire state of neglect because a lack of public interest makes it impossible for them to make ends meet.
Such a state of affairs is obviously a real cause of concern for those who care about the preservation of this nation's cultural heritage because it is certainly no exaggeration to say that Jakarta's museums are quite on a par with those found in most major cities in this region.
Jakarta's famed National Museum can perhaps consider itself fortunate because its central location and easy accessibility ensure that it gets attention, at least from groups of tourists and students who want a quick acquaintanceship with this country's history and traditions. But almost all of the others are not doing quite as well.
Take for example the much-ignored Maritime Museum, which is housed in an 18th century warehouse built by the Dutch United East India Company. This museum is probably unparalleled in this region in terms of the insight which it provides into the history of shipping and navigation in this particular part of the world.
A seafaring nation even during its pre-colonial days, Indonesia at present boasts one of the very few fleets of sail boats in the world still operating commercially. The Maritime Museum exhibits the most complete collection of the many types of boats that were and are used in the various regions of this archipelago. Surely a commendable heritage. Yet on most ordinary days hardly a person comes to see the exhibits.
Another museum in Jakarta which definitely deserves a better fate is the Textile Museum, on Jl. Satsuit Tubun, not far from the city's center. Housed inside a quaint old house dating from the colonial days, this museum is filled with some of the finest samples of traditional Indonesian textiles.
As connoisseurs of ethnic textiles surely know, the Indonesian islands are home to some of the region's and the world's finest weaving traditions. The Indonesian or Malay word ikat, which means binding, gave its name to the beautiful tie-dye textiles for which many of the islands are renowned. And, of course, batik is another kind of traditional textile for which Indonesia is known. Jakarta's textile museum not only displays some of the best and oldest samples of those cloths still in existence, but also carefully records the techniques with which they are made.
The Adam Malik Museum in Central Jakarta and the Fine Arts Museum on Taman Fatahillah in downtown Jakarta, with their fine collections of Chinese, Japanese and Southeast Asian antique ceramics, are other examples.
To be sure, not all museums endure a similar fate. Take for example the various museums that are found inside the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah cultural park. On Sundays and other public holidays hundreds of people of all ages and walks of life throng those halls to admire the various items on exhibit, which range from stamps to costumes and objects of ethnic art. Even on weekdays those facilities are seldom devoid of visitors.
Why the contrast? Surely Jakarta's city museums are no less worthy of a visit. It has been assumed that this is because the latter are part of Taman Mini, a popular cultural park which boasts a great number of hugely diverse facilities.
Perhaps, the key to the matter is that a more innovative and creative style of management is needed for the museums in Jakarta. Most people these days, young people in particular, seem to think of museums as "dead" places in which nothing is happening. Perhaps a study is in order to find out the exact reasons why people seem to no longer be interested in museums. To simply lament about the situation and to leave it as it is, is to allow the appreciation of Indonesians for their national heritage to regress.