Experts propose Borobudur management change
Experts propose Borobudur management change
Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
The 4th International Expert Meeting on Borobudur ended on Monday
with participants recommending a change in the management of the
world's largest Buddhist temple and a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
so as to allow a bigger role for the local community.
The three-day meeting jointly sponsored by the Ministry of
Tourism and Culture and UNESCO agreed on the need to redesign the
entrance gate to Borobudur, which it said did not match the
overall architectural concept of the temple.
Around 120 local and foreign experts attending the forum
expressed their concern over vendors crowding the entrance gate
and called on state-owned PT Taman Wisata, which manages
Borobudur temple, to organize them in a more orderly manner.
However, they rejected the government's plan to build a three-
story shopping center, Jagad Raya, inside the temple complex to
accommodate the unruly vendors.
"It's a bad idea. It will only transfer a problem from one
place to another; it will not solve the problem. In fact, it will
only degrade the value of the world's heritage site," said UNESCO
regional advisor for culture in the Asia Pacific Richard A.
Engelhardt, who chaired the meeting.
He said the problem with vendors could be overcome by
distributing economic activities among local community members,
adding that this could also help them benefit from the temple.
"We will soon conduct a community catchment analysis to learn
more about the economic, social and cultural potentials that
could be developed into tourism-related industries," said
Engelhardt.
Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, he said the
experts had agreed that the conservation of Borobudur had been
conducted well so far.
However, there are two aspects that need serious attention,
especially because they have larger impacts on other
recommendations made in the meeting, he added.
The two aspects are the fracturing of the temple's stones
caused by overloading, and the scaling of its walls and reliefs
due to climatic changes.
"We have to do something about the visitors to avoid
overloading. They have to be spread out," he said, adding that
around 2.5 million people visited Borobudur annually.