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.