Improving Jakarta's museums

Improving Jakarta's museums

The number of visitors to Jakarta's museums markedly increased
last year, going beyond earlier estimates. The same was true of
revenue from museum ticket sales. Based on a report of the
Jakarta museum office, ticket receipts from visitors reached Rp
103 million in 2001, far exceeding the projected Rp 65 million
mark.

Some museums were favorites, while others received scant
interest. The National Museum, one of the city's landmarks, was
most frequented, with 573,332 people recorded last year or 44,000
a month on average. The Textile Museum, in one of Jakarta's
hectic commercial centers -- Tanah Abang -- was visited by only
300 people each month.

This progress is gratifying because museums and relevant state
agencies have made inadequate efforts to renovate the buildings
and improve their facilities due to limited funds.

On the other hand, local museums should be able to implement
developments based on their own resources, particularly in view
of the high income earned by the same institutions abroad.

The greatest source of museum revenue in the capital has come
from student visits. However, in terms of the number of students
at elementary, secondary and high schools in Jakarta, the total
number of visitors remains small.

It becomes necessary to create the awareness that visiting
museums means familiarizing oneself with the identity of a nation
or community with all its works of the past and present. It is
not like going to a mall or recreation center.

We are looking forward to the time when people are ready to
queue up for hours before they can enter such museums as The
Louvre and Guggenheim in Europe. It may be just a dream, but we
need not be disheartened because many successes come after
trivial dreams.

-- Warta Kota, Jakarta