Maritime Museum all at sea

JAKARTA: The number of visitors to the Maritime Museum in Sunda Kelapa port, North Jakarta, during the first half of the year has shown a decrease compared to last year.

Museum head Husen Muhammad said recently that only around 5,000 people visited the museum from January to July, while last year the number of visitors stood at around 7,500 people.

He said the fall in visitor numbers was connected with the elections, and therefore many schools did not require their students to visit the museum.

Beritajakarta.com reported that around 1,000 of last year's 7,500 visitors were school children. But this year, the number of students visiting the museum had still not reached 500.

In an attempt to increase visitor numbers, the museum is holding a two week exhibition, which started on Aug. 25 and will continue through Sept. 7. Besides the exhibition, the museum has also staged some cultural events to attract more visitors. -- JP