Culture Minister pushes for Indonesia Postal Museum to become national cultural heritage

Minister of Culture Fadli Zon is pushing for the status of the Indonesia Postal Museum on Jalan Cilaki, Bandung, to be upgraded from a city-level cultural heritage site to a national cultural heritage site, owing to its important historical value for the nation’s journey. “I think the Postal Museum is very deserving of becoming a national cultural heritage site. This building is over 100 years old and is an important part of the nation’s history,” he said in a statement in Bandung on Saturday. He assessed that the building, constructed during the Dutch colonial period, deserves a status upgrade because it has stood for more than a century and possesses a significant historical background for the nation. Furthermore, he encouraged improvements to the museum’s layout so that thousands of historical collections, including postal equipment, stamps, and documents from various eras, can be exhibited more representatively for the younger generation. During a visit to the museum on Friday evening, he also invited PT Pos Indonesia to revive the tradition of handwritten letter writing among students to build creativity and an emotional closeness that cannot be replaced by digital technology. According to him, this proves that the culture of letter writing and philately still has a place in society and is recognised as a world cultural heritage regularly exhibited at international events. PT Pos Indonesia Commercial Director Fahdel Akbar stated the company’s commitment to continuing to care for and preserve this historical heritage. “Pos Indonesia welcomes the support from the Ministry of Culture in the effort to preserve the Indonesia Postal Museum. We are committed to continuing to maintain, develop, and present this museum as an attractive educational space for the public, especially the younger generation,” he said. The company will continue to collaborate to deliver educational programmes aimed at reviving literacy culture through letter-writing activities, philately, and the use of historical assets as learning media. The Indonesia Postal Museum is one of the oldest communication history museums in the country. It houses thousands of collections that record the journey of postal services from the Dutch East Indies era, through independence, to modern times, with its main attraction being a philatelic collection documenting national history, culture, and figures.