Fadli Zon: Indonesia Can Become the World's Cultural Centre
Culture Minister Fadli Zon believes Indonesia has a great opportunity to become the world’s cultural centre. He stressed that the nation’s cultural richness is the primary capital for development.
“Indonesia has great potential to become the capital of world culture due to the megadiversity we possess,” said Fadli during his cultural oration at the National Children’s Culture and Works Exhibition in the Auditorium GPH Haryo Mataram, Sebelas Maret University (UNS) Surakarta, on Thursday, 26 March 2026.
Fadli reminded that the advancement of culture is a constitutional mandate enshrined in Article 32 of the 1945 Constitution. According to him, culture should serve as the foundation for development before the economy. “Culture must be the primary foundation before the economic sector,” he said.
Fadli highlighted the wealth of ethnic groups and regional languages as soft power. He stated that Indonesia is not merely a nation-state, but a civilisation-state. “With 1,340 ethnic groups and 718 regional languages, our cultural richness is an extraordinary soft power,” he said.
He emphasised the importance of recent archaeological findings in Southeast Sulawesi, which revealed prehistoric cave paintings aged 67,800 years. According to Fadli, this proves that the Nusantara archipelago is one of the world’s oldest civilisation centres. “The prehistoric cave paintings aged 67,800 years prove that civilisation in Nusantara is among the oldest in the world,” he stated.
Additionally, he proposed the “Out of Nusantara” theory regarding the origins of modern humans. Images of boats on the prehistoric cave walls demonstrate the maritime migration capabilities of Indonesia’s ancestors. “Modern humans may have originated from Nusantara or ‘Out of Nusantara’,” he said.
Fadli stressed the transformation of culture into economic strength through the intellectual property industry. He cited South Korea’s success in creating the global K-Pop wave as an example.
“Indonesia, with its statues, temples, and oral traditions, has even greater capital to create ‘Indonesian Waves’ as a driver of the future economy,” said Fadli.
He also invited universities and the private sector to collaborate in nurturing the cultural ecosystem. He hopes that cultural research can be innovative and relevant in the digital era.
“With cooperation from the village to the central level, Indonesian culture will stand firm as a proud national identity,” said Fadli.
UNS Rector Hartono stated that culture is an important foundation in building national civilisation and character. According to him, culture is not only present in the form of traditions and arts, but also as an integral part of the education system.
“Education and culture are two inseparable things. Education must be able to build intellectual intelligence while strengthening social cohesion, intercultural dialogue, and awareness as global citizens,” said Hartono.
Hartono also emphasised that modern education must remain rooted in cultural values, in line with principles championed by UNESCO, namely respect for cultural diversity and human rights.
As a higher education institution, he said UNS positions culture as an important part of its development vision. “Namely, to become a centre of excellence in science, technology, and arts at the international level, grounded in national cultural values,” said Hartono.