Government told not to sideline culture

Government told not to sideline culture

Tantri Yuliandini and Kasparman Piliang, The Jakarta Post,
Bukittinggi, West Sumatra

The fifth National Congress on Culture in Bukittinggi, West
Sumatra, ended on Wednesday with dozens of recommendations that
the government should take into account when drafting future
policies.

The recommendations included building cultural awareness
through national education to encourage the development of new
cultural forms, avoiding the desecration of functioning religious
places, encouraging a philanthropic spirit for the development of
science, technology and art, and establishing a ministry of
culture to ensure the independence of culture.

Congress Steering Committee member Edi Sedyawati said the
establishment of an independent ministry for cultural affairs was
urgent.

"Looking at the current condition, this (proposal) is urgent.
At least return it (culture) to its original position with the
education ministry because there at least we have the same scope
of activity: to educate and cultivate," said Edi, former director
general for culture during the Soeharto era.

During the Soeharto era, culture was attached to the ministry
of education and culture. When Abdurrahman Wahid became president
in 1999, culture was merged with education in the Ministry of
National Education. In 2000, culture was overseen by the ministry
of culture and tourism, and in 2002 it was divided into the
Office of the State Minister of Culture and Tourism and the
Indonesia Culture and Tourism Agency (BP-Budpar). Under the
current government, culture is overseen by the Office of the
State Minister of Culture and Tourism.

"The idea emerged with the hope that culture will have a
bigger focus, with a ministry and a minister representative of
the whole entity of culture, for example in Cabinet meetings,"
said Edi, who is also a professor of archaeology at the
University of Indonesia.

She pointed out that European countries such as France and
Finland had a separate ministry for culture in their governments.

Edi said it was not enough just to have a state minister
overseeing culture in Indonesia, explaining that many things in
the cultural scope needed concrete action rather than just
government policies, which was all that a state minister could
determine.

"For example, in the case of heritage culture, archaeological
and historical remains may look ugly but valuable to science. Who
in the government would fork out lots money for archaeological
excavations, or for restorations or conservation?" she said,
explaining that culture should not have to compete for attention
with either education or tourism in the state budget.

Edi stressed that whether standing independently or attached
to the education or tourism sector, the people overseeing culture
should be professional with a clear vision and mission about
culture and its problems.

This professionalism was further highlighted in the need for
specific curatorial and managerial training for the actors of
art, including in the recommendations read by steering committee
chairman Toeti Heraty N. Roosseno.

This professionalism was needed in order to bring culture into
a full fledged art industry, she added.

"Art industry means an industry that produces works of art
continuously, not merely based on inspiration like it is now,"
playwright Putu Wijaya and member of the steering committee said,
explaining that to do this, actors in the art world must be
professionals who know how to achieve optimum results for their
art.

Some 570 participants from across Indonesia convened in the
small town of Bukittinggi, about two and a half hours from the
West Sumatra capital, Padang, for the congress. Participants
included artists, cultural experts, scholars, community leaders,
government officials and students.

Ninety-six papers were presented in the three plenary
discussions and 30 commissions, which finally extracted 18
recommendations out of the 16 widely diverse topics, which
included topics on integration and disintegration, authority
crisis, conflict and violence, cultural heritage, gender
streamlining, education, language and symbolism, pop culture and
entertainment, religion and spirituality, and science and
technology.

"The congress has not only produced a set of recommendations
to the government, but a document of events and thoughts that
will be presented to the government in the hope that it will heed
them," Putu said.