Missing heirlooms

Missing heirlooms

From Pikiran Rakyat

I am concerned about the two missing gamelan instruments and
other heirlooms belonging to the Indramayu people, as published
in Pikiran Rakyat daily on March 25. The regional administration
should not evade responsibility on these missing assets.

The opinion that these missing items are merely percussion
instruments for entertainment or heirlooms associated with sacred
objects that have to be maintained and worshiped has to be put
aside. The heirlooms reflect much about the history of the
Indramayu people.

When the regional administration was established, the veranda
of the legislative building would always be provided with gamelan
instruments, which served as a mode of communication between the
authorities and the public.

The reality shows that such heirlooms are no longer present at
regional administrations in West Java except in Sumedang, where
heirlooms are maintained by the Foundation of Prince Sumedang,
and in the Palace of Cirebon, although their maintenance is not
as good as in the palaces of Yogyakarta and Surakarta. The
gamelan instruments on the veranda of Bandung's administration
building went missing about thirty years ago. Where are Bandung's
unique, pure bronze gamelan instruments now?

Artists and culture vultures at the Indramayu Art Council have
a moral responsibility and, therefore, have to keep urging the
regional administration to investigate these missing heirlooms.

I personally call on leaders, former officials and other
individuals, who happen to possess these sacred objects, to
entrust them to the museum or university galleries, as their
safety will be guaranteed and they will be of enormous benefit to
research.

ENDOY HIDAYAT

Ciamis, West Java