Guided museum tours take the historical route

Guided museum tours take the historical route

By Mehru Jaffer

JAKARTA (JP): It started with some inquisitive members of
Jakarta's expatriate community wanting to know more about a city
that is home to more than 300 ethnic groups from all over the
Indonesian archipelago and has been constantly adopting the
people and customs of many foreign countries for centuries as
well.

"Knowing the history of an area, the significance of different
buildings and the importance of a particular landmark opens a
window of understanding to a country's culture and its people. We
learn about how places made history, how people made places, how
Jakarta grew ... ," explains Mary de Tray, a former chairwoman of
the Indonesian Heritage Society, a non-profit organization born
more than a decade ago out of a desire to promote interest in,
and knowledge of, Indonesia's rich culture.

Over the years, the large multinational membership of the
society -- more than 400 people -- has been involved in
different ways with all of Jakarta's museums, but they enjoy a
special relationship with the city's National Museum in
particular. Its volunteers are immersed in a wide range of
activities designed to illuminate the abundant artistic,
historical and cultural traditions of the country.

Members of the museum group give English language lessons to
staff at the National Museum and there are at least 35 registered
guides who give free guided tours in several languages. Tours in
English and Japanese are most popular at the museum, which has an
extensive collection of more than 100,000 items, from Chinese
ceramics, ethnographic and prehistoric items, bronzes, gold
objects, stone sculptures to textiles.

Guides speaking several other languages, who only get the job
after intensive training, are also available on request. The
society has published a guide to the museum and is happy to make
arrangements for individuals or groups interested in getting to
know more about certain sections, or subjects, in the museum in
particular.

When Gillian Green arrived in Jakarta 19 months ago she did
not know a soul. April 1998 was an exciting time to be here. So
much was going on in the city. There were so many questions to
ask, so much to listen to and to understand. Gillian was advised
to join the Indonesian Heritage Society, which she did in
September 1998.

Her stay in Jakarta was transformed. She was delighted to meet
like-minded women on a regular basis, some of whom she found
extremely knowledgeable. As a passionate patchwork quilt
designer, Gillian initially became part of the textile study
group, and made several trips to the Textile Museum housed in the
graceful l9th century mansion built in Tanah Abang by a
Frenchman, which is now home to an astounding collection of more
than 1,000 pieces of cloth from all over Indonesia.

"We are working on a detailed inventory of the collection. To
record it all we are making photo slides of each piece of cloth
and of related artifacts," says Gillian, who now holds the
position of vice chair of the society's museum group.

Under the more expert supervision of National Museum staff,
volunteers also translate documents and label and catalog
hundreds of items. "I don't know how much we are helping the
Indonesians but we certainly end up learning and enjoying
ourselves tremendously," Gillian told The Jakarta Post.

Another group of volunteers is busy translating ancient
documents written in old Dutch into English at the National
Archives. For many years the spacious country house built on Jl.
Gajah Mada for Reinier de Klerk, governor general in 1777, housed
the National Archives, which have now moved to a more modern
building. Yet another goodwill gesture by the expatriates came in
1995, when the Dutch business community here agreed to renovate
the mansion as a gift to Indonesians on the 50th anniversary of
their Republic.

Gillian's own love affair with Indonesia started way back in
the 1960s when her father came to work in Semarang, Central Java,
under the Columbia Plan aid program. He taught at a local school
for teachers. Her mother gave lessons on western art, while
Gillian dabbled in batik printing during her three-year stay. Her
delight knew no bounds when she realized that, in 1988, she was
to return to the country, after all those long years, as wife of
the New Zealand ambassador to Indonesia.

Gillian finds the museums in the city lacking in nothing.
"They are as good as museums anywhere in the world. The intention
is the same: to document and display the people's cultural
heritage that is displayed here in abundance," she says.

She goes to the National Museum almost once a week and finds
an adequate number of interested visitors. Once the 1862 building
in the Greco-Roman style is renovated and expanded, she hopes it
will look less cramped and can accommodate many more exhibits.

However, others feel that the necessary ambience of a world-
class museum is missing. "The atmosphere is not inviting enough.
There is no invitation to linger at the premises, at a cafe or a
well-stocked book and souvenir shop," Elisabeth Penzias, a
visitor from Vienna told the Post.

Gillian feels that recent demonstrations and rioting may have
kept museum lovers away from the Jl. Merdeka Barat area where the
National Museum is located, but not for long. She has never felt
any fear for her own safety while museum-hopping on a regular
basis, so why should anyone else? She is optimistic that as soon
as tourists pour back into the country and the economy improves,
cultural activities will swing once again.

For the moment, it makes sense for most Indonesians to use
every penny they have on feeding themselves, rather than visiting
museums.