Kutai Palace set for comeback

SAMARINDA, East Kalimantan: The Kutai district administration has announced plans to revive the cultural life of the Kutai Kertanegara Palace in an effort to attract foreign tourists.

Kutai district chief Sayukani HR said on Saturday in Tenggarong that alterations which turned the Kutai Palace into the Mulawarman Museum, which houses collections of historical legacies from the Kutai Kingdom, had failed to attract foreign visitors.

He said such sites were becoming increasingly unattractive because tourists were generally not interested in inanimate objects.

Sayukani said that in order to reverse this trend it was necessary to revive cultural activities at the Kutai Kertanagera Palace so that visitors would have first-hand experience of traditional palace life.

He said if the cultural rejuvenation program proceeded according to plan, a king would be selected and served by royal "maids".

Sayukani said that according to the royal lineage of the Kutai Kingdom, the king would bear the title of Aji Pangeran Prabu, or Aji Sultan.

"For this purpose, I will visit Surakarta and Yogyakarta to see how the palace tradition and rites are conserved and practiced there," he told Antara.