Creativity needed to draw people to museums

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It takes a lot of creativity to attract most Indonesians to visit a museum, especially during this year's Idul Fitri holiday, which is longer, as the government granted an extended period of leave to civil servants.

The Transportation Museum at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII), for example, staged a dangdut musical performance to attract more visitors.

The museum boasts a huge collection of all types of transportation mode, from old bicycles to the jet airplane.

"This is my first visit to TMII. But I did not pick this museum on purpose. It's because my family and I wanted to visit all the attractions here, including the museums," Candra from Tangerang, Banten, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

TMII spokesman Purnawijaya Alibasa said there was no problem if a museum's management decided to put on a dangdut performance to attract more visitors.

"Such a performance doesn't have to be closely related to the museum's main function.

"But at least people are attracted to visit the museums and hopefully they will view the collections too," he added.

It turned out that not all museums attracted as many visitors as the Transportation Museum.

The Sports Museum, for instance, obviously failed to attract a large number of visitors to view its exhibits of past Indonesian sporting achievements.

Also on display is some of the equipment used by an Indonesian team to reach the peak of Mount Everest in 1997.

Another interesting section is the equipment used in Indonesian traditional sports such as kite flying, sepak takraw (a ball game) and gasing (spinning top).

Such interesting displays are, however, not accompanied by an explanation adequate enough for visitors to know how to play or use the items.

The museum complex, however, still attracted a considerable crowd to swim in a pool or ride on a mini Ferris wheel.

"The pool is not actually a swimming pool but a decorative one. However, we couldn't stop visitors from swimming in it," an employee at the Sports Museum, Budi Setiadi, told the Post.

"Maybe they do not have a swimming pool at their villages so they defied our warnings not to swim in it."

Another museum employee, Ibrahim Saleh, said most of the visitors were usually high school or university students carrying out research for their academic papers or theses.

Meanwhile, Yanti Soha of Bengkulu said she specifically wanted to visit the Stamp Museum, having been a philatelist for five years.

"The museum's collection is good and priceless, as some items date from the early era of our country's history," she said.

Yanti, however, said the museum could do more to organize more activities to attract more visitors.

Many visitors took advantage of a pendopo (open hall) in front of the museum to take a rest and have a little nap after walking around the 150-hectare TMII.

Purnawijaya said that TMII would remain open until Jan. 1 every day, even on Mondays when it is usually closed.

So far, TMII has attracted some 400,000 visitors, and on Sunday recorded a seasonal high of 137,551 visitors.

Elsewhere, all city-run museums are closed until Tuesday and will reopen on Wednesday. These include the Textile Museum in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, and Jakarta History Museum in Kota, West Jakarta.

But the National Museum on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat reopened on Tuesday after its four-day closure last Friday.