Five stolen paintings returned
By K. Basrie
JAKARTA (JP): A Singaporean collector agreed yesterday after a day of negotiations in the island state to return to Jakarta five Indonesian paintings allegedly stolen from the National Museum here.
"Thanks God, we've finally got the stolen paintings," Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro told reporters shortly after being told the news by telephone at 6:30 p.m. yesterday from the head of the National Museum, Suwati Kartiwa.
The latter was leading the Indonesian delegation in the negotiations with the unidentified collector, who was represented by his lawyer, Liem Seng Siew.
By late evening yesterday, all of the paintings had been transferred to the Indonesian embassy, ready to be flown home, reported Suwati to Wardiman.
"Just take any flight that can bring the paintings home as soon as possible," the minister ordered the head of the museum.
According to Wardiman, all of the five paintings by world- renowned Indonesian masters are listed in the Christie's catalog for its Oct. 6 auction at The Hyatt Regency Singapore.
Among the five oil paintings to be returned are the two controversial canvases widely reported to have been withdrawn by Christie's following reports that they were part of the Indonesian national collection stolen from the state museum.
A Nude was completed in 1992, by Basoeki Abdullah and Portrait of a Dutch Governor Wearing the Willems Order was completed in 1867 by legendary master Raden Sarief Bustaman Saleh, better- known as Raden Saleh.
Basoeki's painting has an estimated price in the Christie's catalog of between S$8,000 (US$5650) and S$12,000 while it was thought Raden Saleh's would sell for between S$100,000 and S$150,000.
According to Wardiman, the other three paintings are by Affandi, another famous Indonesian expressionist. They are Parang Tritis, completed in 1964, Kawah Tangkuban Perahu, 1974, and Wadjah Diri dan Topeng, also 1974. The estimated prices of the three paintings are between S$35,000 and S$45,000, S$30,000 and S$40,000, and S$30,000 and S$40,000 respectively.
"All of the paintings were offered to Christie's for auction by the same person," said the minister.
Since the news of the controversial paintings broke last week, Christie's International Singapore Pte. Ltd. said that only two paintings, A Nude and Portrait of a Dutch Governor Wearing the Willems Order, had been withdrawn from its upcoming auction.
Speaking at a press conference early yesterday, Christie's managing director for the Asian region, Philip Ng, said that the seller of the paintings has assured Christie's that "he would donate the two paintings to Indonesia."
Soon after Wardiman's announcement, Philip told The Jakarta Post that Christie's was asked by the Singaporean police, who were investigating the case, to keep the story of the other three paintings confidential.
"That's the reason why we had to keep on saying only two paintings were withdrawn," Philip said.
But following Wardiman's statement, "all five paintings were automatically withdrawn by Christie's from the Oct. 6 auction," he said.
Philip only described the seller of the paintings as a Singaporean citizen, who also does business in Indonesia.
Critics
Despite the good news from Singapore, critics said that the important thing is not the return of the paintings but how they were stolen.
"The police, together with us, are still investigating the case, including how the culprits took the paintings and then took them overseas," said Wardiman.
The minister said he strongly believed that the theft was committed by insiders after investigators found that everything at the museum's stores were in the correct order.
"There's no sign that the doors of the stores, for instance, were forced," he said.
According to the minister, 12 paintings were stolen from the museum.
"I've just received reports that six more paintings are missing from the museum," he said, but refused to go into details.
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