Culture Minister Encourages Strengthening of National Figure Museums Through Soeharto Museum

Culture Minister Fadli Zon has encouraged the strengthening of museums dedicated to national figures as spaces for public education and historical preservation during a visit to the General H.M. Soeharto Memorial Museum in Kemusuk, Sedayu, Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region. According to Fadli, the museum, which stands in the area where Indonesia’s 2nd president Soeharto was born, holds significant value because it not only records the life journey of a national figure but is also located in a place that is part of his life history. “This museum is important because it is in Kemusuk, where he was born, so the public can see firsthand the traces of life that shaped the journey of a national figure,” Fadli said in a statement received in Jakarta on Friday. He said the existence of the museum at Soeharto’s birthplace provides strong historical context for the public to understand the life journey and service of the figure to the nation and state. Fadli explained that the museum also presents various important episodes in Indonesian history, including Soeharto’s role as Head of Wehrkreise III during the Second Dutch Military Aggression. According to him, the General Offensive of 1 March 1949 was an important momentum that showed the international community that the Republic of Indonesia still existed and continued to resist Dutch occupation efforts. In addition, the museum also displays various other national historical records, including the dynamics during the suppression of the G30S/PKI in 1965 and various phases of the Indonesian nation’s journey in the subsequent period. Fadli emphasised that the existence of the General H.M. Soeharto Memorial Museum is in line with the Ministry of Culture’s commitment to revive museums related to important figures in Indonesian history.