Local people sidelined from benefits of tourism

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