Heritage runs deep in Sita's veins

Heritage runs deep in Sita's veins

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

For Laretna T. Adishakti, her very persona and heritage
activities are one and the same, an integral whole.

Employed as a lecturer in Gadjah Mada University (UGM)'s
School of Architecture, Laretna's interest in heritage started
during her student days at the university. But she finally became
completely hooked in the late 1980s when participating in a
program overseas.

In 1987, she took a one-semester joint program course at the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the United States, and Ecole
Speciale d'Architecture in Paris, France. This gave her the
opportunity to learn about heritage and its conservation.

"Then, I become more and more interested in heritage issues as
I got the chance to view architectural sites in some 17 cities as
part of my studies," recalled Laretna, the chairwoman of the
Indonesia Heritage Year 2003 organizing committee.

The Indonesia Heritage Year was co-launched this month by
State Minister for Tourism and Culture I Gde Ardhika and Minister
of Agriculture Bungaran Saragih in Sambi village, Sleman, some 20
kilometers north of Yogyakarta.

With her new-found interest, Laretna, who is better known as
Sita, chose the Tamansari Water Castle in the Yogyakarta Palace's
Jeron Beteng (inside the fortress) area as the subject of her
thesis for her master's degree in architecture from the School of
Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee, the U.S., in 1988.

She studied the castle from the perspective of those aspects
that to be protected along with the management aspect as regards
the people living there. By studying it, she hoped the castle
would be able to be better managed and make it more attractive,
thus enabling it to become a heritage tourist attraction.

"I've done plenty of research and studies on Tamansari since
then and made countless suggestions on how to better manage it.
But nothing significant has been done so far," said Sita, who
received her doctoral degree in engineering in 1997 from
Kyoto University's Graduate School in Global Environmental
Engineering, Japan.

Apart from teaching and chairing the committee, Sita has a
long list of heritage activities in different organizations to
her credit.

The 45-year-old, among other activities, chairs and is co-
founder the Indonesian Network for Heritage Conservation (JPPI);
chairwoman and co-founder of the Penang, Malaysia-based Asia West
Pacific Network for Urban Conservation; head of UGM's School of
Architecture's Center for Heritage Conservation; and chairs and
co-founds the Jogja Heritage Society (JHS). She is also a former
chairperson of the Jogja Forum for the Conservation of the
Cultural Environment, which she co-founded in 2000.

Seeing no significant progress resulting from her efforts does
not make Sita give up.

Realizing many things should be done -- for instance, not only
the Taman Sari Water Castle but the Jeron Beteng area as a whole
needs to be preserved, she, through the organizations that she
chairs in cooperation with other heritage societies, initiated
the publication of a guide map for tourists wanting to wanting to
explore the Jeron Beteng heritage trail.

Many find the map amazing.

"I myself do not consider the map amazing. It sounds like it
is because we, Indonesians, are not used to producing such
documents. This is our weakness and needs to be gradually
changed," said Sita, expressing that the publication of the map
would inspire others to organize similar activities in other
places throughout the country.

The woman, whose academic endeavors include studies on urban
and rural conservation planning in the Minangkabau hinterland in
West Sumatra, encourages the setting up of more heritage
societies and centers. "This way we will be able to cover more
and more areas, heritage sites, buildings and cultures," said the
mother of three sons whose husband is currently living in Japan.

Heritage, according to Sita, does not just refer to our
tangible inheritance, including the natural environment such as
the flora and fauna, artificial environment such as artifacts,
temples, buildings, sites, villages, towns -- or a mixture of the
natural and artificial environments; but also intangible
inheritance like culture or customs.

Today's people, she said, do not just have the task of
conserving heritage but have the right to create their own
heritage for the future as well.

"Conservation cannot be taken only as a preservation effort
but it can as well be perceived as development. Everything, like
villages and towns, also has the right to develop. Only, in this
case, we have to develop them in such a way so that they will not
lose any of their specific characteristics," she explained.

Unfortunately, she said, there is no agreement in the country
regarding the definition of the word heritage, making it
difficult for conservation activists to do their jobs.

"In the last few years, this lack of definition has been my
main concern. That's why we have also agreed that at least,
before Indonesia Heritage Year 2003 ends, we will hopefully be
able to formulate a heritage charter. This is important because
of our country's rich heritage," Sita said.

She realizes it will not be an easy job to decide on a clear-
cut definition of heritage, as the facts show that there are not
many heritage activists or societies around.

"The Indonesia Heritage Year 2003 organizing committee, for
instance, only involves some 40 heritage organizations and some
120 activists," said Sita, who is now working hard to finish
books on heritage conservation to provide people with more
information on the subject.

She realizes, however, that everything runs in accordance with
a process.

"Nothing can be done in a single minute. What I'm doing now is
trying to spread as many heritage 'viruses' as possible, door to
door and even face to face if necessary, so more people will
become interested in doing what we're currently doing in
conserving our heritage."