City museum offers tantalizing clues to former glory

Zulkifli Mohamad, Contributor, Palembang

The caretaker-cum-guide at Sultan Machmud Badaruddin II Museum kept on apologizing about the poor state of the museum and its collection as he took me around.

The city museum, named after the sultan who was arrested by the Dutch and sent into exile in distant Ternate in July 1821, was formerly the Palembang Sultan's Palace and part of the Keraton Kuto Besar.

Later, when the Dutch took over, it became the Kuto Besar Fortress. The museum has a few cannons pointing toward the riverfront facing the newly built red gate, with a lotus flower design on top of the gate and a naga (dragon) design, a symbol of the importance of water to this former maritime kingdom.

This gave the impression of an ancient kingdom, juxtaposed with the red-roof-tile and white concrete tropical colonial building. The building is believed to have been extended and renovated on several occasions since the reign of Sultan Machmud Badaruddin II.

There were three recently discovered statues of Buddha and Ganesha, god of knowledge, in the museum grounds, and examples of the area's famous songket textiles and lacquerware inside. The museum caretaker has his own way of interpreting the history and arts of Palembang and the ancient kingdom of Sri Wijaya. He pointed out that the wood carving of the lotus flower has been incorporated into Islamic design although the lotus is integral to Buddhist symbolism.

Through my guide I acquired three photocopied books on Palembang's history, arts and culture. He later showed me to antique and craft shops as well as textiles and costumes from Palembang's heyday at the Pasar Illir 16 Market. Before he left me in the middle of the market craziness, he pointed out that I should come in the future during "Sri Wijaya Day" in June when all things about Palembang are put on show, especially the rare royal court performance of "Genta Seri Wijaya".

All the time, he had kept repeating his apologies, and also announced his hope that someday someone would help redevelop and preserve the collection. And he has a good point.

With the fame of Sri Wijaya in Southeast Asia, this museum could easily attract visitors from the region and further afield. Exhibitions about Palembang as an important Malay kingdom up to the 19th century could be developed by incorporating its port and waterways in telling how trading led to the collection of cultural wealth. This high-potential museum could contribute to history reconstruction and cultural revival as well as tourism development.

What it needs is an awareness of its importance, plus management and networking not only from the municipality, but also from the business community, education and cultural experts and activists. One can only wonder what others could do when someone like a museum caretaker was able to construct the history and tales from a very poor collection of exhibits and make it interesting to me.