Christie's tightlipped about stolen paintings
JAKARTA (JP): Christie's International Singapore Pte. Ltd. says no officials from Indonesia or Singapore have contacted the auction house about the two Indonesian paintings reportedly stolen from the National Museum here.
"No one has approached us so far," Billie, secretary to Christie's Singapore general manager Irene Lee, told The Jakarta Post over the phone.
The statement contradicts recent remarks made by Indonesian police officers to the effect that Jakarta has started working to get back the paintings, which were hastily withdrawn by Christie's from its Oct. 6 auction in Singapore.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday in Batam Island in Riau province, close to Singapore, National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo Widodo said that the Indonesian police have asked the Singaporean police, through Interpol, to help investigate the stolen paintings and trace the perpetrators.
Late last week, Indonesian art curators and relatives of the famous portrait master R. Basoeki Abdullah called on Christie's to return the paintings.
They also wanted the Indonesian government to take immediate action through diplomatic channels to get back the paintings.
Billie refused to say what happened to the two paintings and the identity of their owners.
The paintings are A Nude, completed in 1992, by Basoeki Abdullah and Portrait of a Dutch Governor Wearing the Willems Order, completed in 1867, by Raden Sarief Bustaman Saleh, better known as Raden Saleh.
They are said to be among six works by Indonesian artists allegedly stolen here recently.
Christie's announced the abrupt withdrawal of the paintings on Friday, following reports from Jakarta newspapers about the theft.
Lawyer
Despite the clamor to return the paintings to Jakarta, many experts have expressed pessimism due to the strict rules of privilege at Christie's.
"It's not easy to get back the paintings because Christie's has to protect the identity of its clients," said art curator Jim Supangkat.
However, lawyer Amir Syamsuddin said "there's no reason for anyone, including Christie's, to hide the identities of anyone who is strongly believed to have be involved in a crime."
"Thus our government, through our embassy there, must soon submit a report to the Singaporean authorities," Amir told the Post last night.
Indonesia could hire a local lawyer to try for a "temporary" confiscation of the paintings, said the lawyer.
"It does need extra money to do this but the government has to take this case seriously, to preserve our national assets," Amir said.
"Correspondence will gain us nothing," he said.
The confiscation of the paintings could help the local police to find the owner, which in turn would lead to the whereabouts of the other four paintings.
In another related development yesterday, police chief Dibyo speculated that the perpetrators were professional criminals.
Police have started to question a number of staffers of the museum.
Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro said Monday that the theft also involved some insiders. (bsr)