Local people sidelined from benefits of tourism

When the major physical restoration of Borobudur temple started in the 1970s, residents of the surrounding areas were full of hope that it would help improve their lives.

They believed the restoration project would help open up job opportunities at the temple, thus allowing them to earn more money than before.

"Life was relatively peaceful at that time. The local economy had improved and the markets were busier than ever," recalled researcher Heddy Shri Ahimsa-Putra of Gadjah Mada University.

The situation changed in 1980 when the government decided to build a recreational park around Borobudur hill, which was meant to function as a buffer zone as well as a service area for visiting tourists, based on an early study conducted by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The 85-hectare park made a big impact on the surrounding community, as it required the complete relocation of the Ngaran and Kenayan hamlets. The villagers moved out in the early 1980s to other villages nearby.

Still, many local residents expressed support for the plan, hoping they would earn a better living with the development of the Borobudur tourism industry.

Upon completion of the park, the government set up PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, a state-owned company tasked with managing the heritage site and its surrounding areas as part of the temple's conservation efforts.

Later, the company was also given the responsibility for managing Prambanan and Ratu Boko temples, and thus changed its name to PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu Boko.

In its self-published booklet titled The Commitment for Cultural Heritage Management, the company states that its idealism as a cultural heritage management company had been manifested in its efforts to make the temples the country's main tourist destination.

To some degree, the company seems to have succeeded in its goals. Some 2.5 million tourists visit Borobudur every year, and last year the temple contributed a total revenue of nearly Rp 12 billion. In the same year, it also contributed Rp 2.7 billion in taxes to Magelang regency.

But critics insist the company has not provided sufficient social and economic contributions to locals. There is a sense that the company is ignorant and untouchable, and does not care about the local communities.

"We are not like that. We've been contributing regular sums of money both to the village and subdistrict administrations," said Wagiman Subiarso, PT Taman Wisata director.

PT Taman Wisata has been paying Rp 50 million and Rp 75 million, respectively, to the administrations of Borobudur village and Mungkid subdistrict. The funds, he said, excluded the Rp 2.7 billion annual tax collected by Magelang regency.

The company is also criticized for its failure to properly manage the temple, milking it for all its worth, but remaining unconcerned about its conservation. It has failed to educate visitors by not providing enough information about the World Heritage Site and by neglecting to train guides, which have left tourists wandering around the site without understanding what they were seeing, nor the concept of conservation.

Most of all, the company failed in managing the vendors who crowd the temple's main entrance, which has lowered tourists' appreciation of the temple.

"I'm not defending myself, but we are not the only ones to blame -- we work according to the regulation," Wagiman said.

He said the government and the community shared the responsibility for creating a comfortable and proper environment in the temple area, such as at the main gate, since Taman Wisata had also paid a great deal amount of tax to the local government.

"We did do something about it. We moved them from their previous location, which was close to temple. It cost us a lot of money -- billions of rupiah -- just for the relocation," Wagiman said.

The company, he said, had also provided more opportunities for local communities to earn more money from Borobudur. For instance, it hired local artists since May to perform regularly at the temple under the coordination of Mungkid subdistrict.

"We are also planning to open the temple at night to offer traditional and cultural performances to suit the site. In Prambanan, for example, we have a regular Ramayana performance," said Wagiman. He said the company was currently studying local traditional and cultural shows toward this end.

The plan, he said, would hopefully benefit the local community, since it would make tourists stay longer.

-- Sri Wahyuni