Museum holds programs to lure more visitors

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The small number of visitors to the Jakarta History Museum, popularly known to locals as Fatahillah Museum, has encouraged the museum authorities to stage a number programs to lure more people to visit the impressive two-story building located at Jl. Fatahillah 1, West Jakarta.

"The objective (of the programs) is to attract more people, particularly students, to come and visit the museum," said the museum's director, Tinia Budiati, on Monday.

Despite the fact that the Jakarta History Museum is among the most visited museums in the city, Tinia is still not satisfied with visitor numbers.

Last year, a total of 46,872 people visited the museum, which was a 20 percent increase over the number of visitors in 2000 (38,869) and 1999 (29,000).

The museum management said students and foreign tourists made up the majority of the visitors with 45 percent and 35 percent respectively. The remaining 20 percent consisted of local visitors.

Tinia expressed the hope that the museum could enhance its presence among locals through the programs rather than making them digest copious quantities of dry, historical information.

"Since most Indonesians are not familiar with museums, we need to provide a light and entertaining introduction to museums," she said. "By watching entertaining programs, visitors will realize that museums are also alternative places to relax."

The Jakarta History Museum will stage fun bike rallies on May 18 and May 19 in which the participants will have the opportunity of visiting several other nearby museums, including the Maritime Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Puppet Museum and Ceramics museum.

On the same days, the museum will also stage a folklore festival featuring the reciting of popular local legends and myths including Si Pitung, Si Jampang, Aisyah Macan Marunda, Buaya Buntung, Lagoa, Tete Jongker and Tambasia.

Another program is the national art festival at the museum, which will run from March 10 to Dec. 22, and will feature musical and dance performances from several provinces, including West Java, Bali, North Sulawesi, Central Java and West Sumatra.

"This festival is also a part of the campaign to recognize that Jakarta is a multicultural city inhabited by people from different cultures, races and religions," Tinia said.

It is widely suspected that the public's lack of interest in visiting museums is partly due to the museums' poor management, which largely accounts for the bad service provided to visitors and the poor performance of the museums.

Many museums in the capital are in a poor condition due to a lack of funds for the renovation and maintenance of the buildings.

In total, there are more than 60 museums here. Only 10 of the museums are managed by the city administration while the rest are run by foundations and private individuals.

The administration has allocated only Rp 2 billion (US$211,640) from the 2002 city budget to finance the renovation and management of its museums.

Construction of the Jakarta History Museum was completed on Jan. 25, 1707. During the Dutch colonial days, the building served as the city hall as well as housing the district court. It also served at one stage as the city prison.