East Flores Culture and Tourism Office Meets Discoverer of Ancient Artefacts While Fishing on Konga Beach
The East Flores Culture and Tourism Office (Disparbud) met with Bernardus Budi, the discoverer of ancient items while fishing on Konga Beach in Titehena Subdistrict, on Wednesday (6/5/2026). The East Flores Disparbud met with Bernardus to record the ancient assets that were found.
Head of East Flores Disparbud, Hery Lamawuran, stated that the ancient items must be protected by the state. The state, Hery explained, documents them for conservation purposes.
“The state has an obligation to protect, not to take. It is important because they have value and significant meaning in terms of history, science, research, literacy, civilisation, and most importantly for conservation,” said Hery when confirmed by detikBali on Thursday (7/5/2026).
Hery said that the ancient items found by the resident will be examined by a team of cultural heritage experts. If the examination results indicate that the items are in the important category, the discoverer could be appointed as a custodian and receive a monthly incentive.
“In East Flores, there are 12 custodians who have received monthly incentives for several years. Only this year, due to efficiency, they only receive for 6 months,” added Hery.
Hery hopes that the found items, if deemed valuable according to the examination results, are at least well maintained by the discoverer. The East Flores Disbudpar has the authority to inventory, document, and ensure they are well maintained.
“East Flores items are often sought after by antique collectors. They must not end up moving abroad. Now there is an international consensus to repatriate Indonesian collections that are abroad,” requested Hery.
For information, the Regent of East Flores, Anton Doni Dihen, issued Decree Number 15.1 of 2026 regarding the Appointment of Cultural Heritage Custodians in the East Flores Region. Anton outlined several duties of cultural heritage custodians in that decree.
The duties of the custodians are (1) to maintain the cultural heritage so that it remains intact and not destroyed, (2) to ensure that the form of the cultural heritage is not altered and moved from its original location to another place, and (3) to monitor and maintain the cleanliness of the cultural heritage site regularly to preserve its condition. Custodians, in carrying out their duties, are given incentives based on applicable laws and regulations and the region’s financial capacity.
Head of the Culture Division of East Flores Disbudpar, Silvester Petara Hurit, hopes for good intentions and cooperation from owners and village governments (pemdes) to jointly conduct inventory efforts for findings suspected to be cultural heritage objects in their respective villages. “Because we all have the responsibility to care for our cultural products,” he explained.
The man who holds a certificate as a state cultural heritage expert revealed that two statues resembling Hindu deities found by Bernardus on Konga Beach were once discarded. Fortunately, the two statues were taken by residents and then stored at the customary institution chairman’s house in Konga.
“At the same place. So he (Bernardus) gathered them, some were released again at the same place. The ones released were taken by Konga residents and handed over to the Konga customary institution chairman,” said Silvester.